TLC receives $2,000 check from Hearing Associates

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

Hearing Associates donated more than $2,000 Friday to TLC: The Learning Center.

Dr. Jeff King, a Hearing Associates audiologist who practices at the Floyd County Medical Center in Charles City on Thursdays and Fridays presented the check for $2,025. The center was chosen as a part of Hearing Associates’ “Hear for Our Community” campaign that donates  a portion of its proceeds to a non-profit organization each quarter.

“I kind of asked a couple of patients who have been lifelong residents of Charles City, what would be a good place to donate to?” said King. “We kind of determined this was a good place because of their after-school programs.”

Pam Ost, TLC director, said some of the money donated by Hearing Associates would go for new TracFones that can be used with emergency backpacks that are always out on the playground at TLC. The phones also help aid staff on field trips.

“If staff has a situation out here where they need assistance or one of the kids has had some kind of accident or something, they call in and it will go directly into the other TracFone. Then we’ll know to come out and help,” said Ost.

Ost also said money is needed when it’s too hot out for the kids to walk to the museum or library for a field trip. TLC then has to take the public transit system, which costs $3 per kid for a round-trip ride. Ost currently has 75 children enrolled in the center and she said those numbers will increase when school-aged children join for the summer.

“The longer that we have those kind of monies it just means we can go out that much farther with what we can offer,” said Ost. “It’s that circle. These little ones are impacted by those other population that need hearing capabilities. You’re furnishing that and you’re giving back to the little ones.”

TLC works with children from age 6 weeks through fifth grade. The child care center was established in 2001 and has provided care for more than 1,200 children since its doors opened.