The Langham, Auckland (www.langhamhotels.co.nz) treated children and families from The Hearing House (www.hearinghouse.co.nz) to a special Wonderland Afternoon Tea yesterday to herald the start of its charitable partnership for the year.
Jeffrey van Vorsselen, Managing Director of The Langham, Auckland says the five-star hotel is delighted to lend its assistance to the non-profit organisation.
“The Hearing House’s work with teaching children who are deaf or hearing impaired to listen and speak is vitally important and can be achieved with the right technology, therapy and support. Deafness can have a profound effect but by working with children from a very young age, The Hearing House makes it possible for deaf children to live a life with no barriers to their learning and growth,” says Mr van Vorsselen.
“We find the five-star service that The Hearing House provides children who require its services and the tireless work of this organisation, truly inspirational. We are delighted to support their efforts and hope by doing so, that The Hearing House will be able to expand its services to help even more children and families,” says Mr van Vorsselen.
The Hearing House works through a family focussed learning centre providing auditory-verbal therapy for families to help their children develop spoken language. This therapy is crucial follow up after children have received a cochlear implant through surgery. Cochlear implants are small electronic devices that provide sound to those who are hearing impaired and this technology has a life-changing impact on those who receive it.
Scott Johnston, Chief Executive of The Hearing House, says he is thrilled with The Langham’s decision to choose The Hearing House as its focus for 2010.
“Most of us take the ability to listen and speak for granted but we work intensively with deaf and hearing-impaired children to ensure they can listen and talk like other five-year-olds when they start school. Ensuring that deaf children develop these skills means they have enhanced relationships with their families and friends, and perform better at school. They also can function in mainstream society.”
“Financial and practical support from The Langham, Auckland will make a huge difference to what we do and will allow us to develop new programmes to benefit even more hearing-impaired and deaf children and teenagers. We are delighted about this partnership and hope it will be the start of a very rewarding relationship for both organisations.”
The Hearing House was established in 1998 after local ear, nose and throat surgeons became concerned that children who had received cochlear implants were unable to listen and talk as well as expected. Since then, 96% of Hearing House children have gone on to attend mainstream school and 91% of them can speak at an age-appropriate level when they are five.
The Langham will provide support in a number of ways throughout the year, with its large number of staff able to use their collective skills to help in a variety of ways. The Hearing House’s main national fundraising event, Loud Shirt Day which will be held on Friday 17 September, will give the hotel’s normally conservatively attired staff the opportunity to fully embrace the spirit of the day.