Gotham Gal: The League for the Hard of Hearing

A variety of our friends are either involved or connected to some non-profit organzation where they either sit on the board or help raise money and awareness. Each of them is passionate about their cause. Through everyones work, our kids have a better understanding how that affects each organization. This is a very good thing.

One of my very best friends in the world co-chaired last nights event for The League of the Hard of Hearing. It appeared to be a huge success from the amount of people that came to support the event.
We have been attending their events off and on over the past 6 years. She has definitely made an impact.

One of the things she was adamant about which is very hard to get across is no comps. The big fundraisers of the year are to make money for the organzation. A tremendous amount of capital comes out of these events which allows the organizations to run successful programs through the year. Board members that just comp people so that they can bring their friends along to an event is not what these events are for. She has also changed the culture of what raising money means. The event used to be low key and inexpensive. I believe that they still have that event so everybody can come which is great for community but the big event of the year is not for everyone, it is for people who can afford to buy a big ticket. This can cause serious friction among the board and the staff to set the path for doing this but there is no doubt that when one person sets their foot down about the realities of the big fundraiser, the benefits become obvious. So, my hat goes off to her for being tough. That is not an easy thing to do. It isn't easy to change years of the status quo.

The League has touched over a million people. A young girl spoke last night about how people treated her because she had a hearing disability. The League was there to support and help her navigate the world. She eloquently talked about how a teacher at school told her that as far as she was going to possibly get is working at McDonald's. She thought to herself if I am going to work at McDonald's, I am going to own that McDonald's. This young woman is hopefully going to be attending Columbia University next fall. My guess is there are thousands of stories like that from kids and adults that the League has touched.

The organzation has been around since 1910. Each organization goes through different cycles but I have seen and heard about the impact that our friends have made at The League since they have been involved. The League is lucky to have them.

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Gotham Gal

The League for the Hard of Hearing

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