JAMES NEVINS AND GRANDSON MARK “TAYLOR” KRAFT RECENTLY FOUND A “BUCKEYE” CONNECTION IN CHINA WHILE HELPING 4,500 NEEDY CHILDREN AND ADULTS AS PART OF STARKEY FOUNDATIONS RECENT “SO THE WORLD MAY HEAR” CHINA MISSION.
The Starkey Hearing Foundation has earned a worldwide reputation for gifting million of children and the underprivileged with hearing aids while providing a wide range of humanitarian services across America and more than 100 countries. These include the most desolate, dangerous and remote places on earth. So …an opportunity to go to Communist China was both irresistible and as it turned out, an experience of a lifetime for local hearing aid specialist Jim Nevins and his grandson Mark Taylor Kraft.
The foundations 12 day China mission helped hearing impaired patients from Suzhou, Xuzhou and Suqian in the Jiangsu province of China from July 28th to August 8th. Twenty Hearing aid specialists and Audiologists from across the country managed an amazing team effort in record breaking 105 degree heat. According to Nevins, this experience was a highlight of his 48 year Hearing Aid career. He described an endless line of severely hearing impaired people, often void of personality or communication skills because they had simply, never had help for their impairment. Within minutes, many people mislabeled as “deaf and dumb”, would be laughing, intelligently repeating words and suddenly connected to life and a far more hopeful future.
Mark Kraft remarked that many of the children wore their best clothes to the event so, It didn’t go unnoticed when 14 year old Chun Zhang, the cute young lady pictured above, with a severe hearing loss just happened to be wearing an Ohio State t-shirt. Mr. Bill Austin, C.E.O. and founder of Starkey Labs, is a Billionaire several times over. That company donates all the hearing aids provided by the Starkey hearing foundation and he personally works harder and longer hours on each mission than his employees, sponsors or volunteers. Also, he insists on personally becoming involved with the many seemingly impossible to help hearing loss situations. His personal work ethic combined with his wealth and sincerity has, according to Nevins, become like a humble, Mother Theresa style example of care, concern and selflessness. Austin’s humanitarian lifestyle has caught the eyes of the world and many of its leaders. He, along with his wife Tani’s self proclaimed mission … is to bring understanding between people through caring and sharing. The Starkey Hearing Foundation has developed trust in many ways and it’s good deeds and donations of millions of hearing aids, serves as one of the “best” possible examples of what is right about America.
There may be things wrong in this world, said Nevins, but this mission proved an amazing mix of emotions as so many influential news people and leaders of this Communist country, like so many other countries, bore first hand witness to a phenomenal humanity, tolerance and respect for life. The great privilege of helping people in such a big way was made even better with a feeling that we were American ambassadors, serving in some small way as a catalyst for peace, understanding and mutual respect. Mr. Austin flew directly on to India for another 20 day mission, his wife Tanni flew on to Africa. Nevins is the founder of House of Hearing, an established family firm based in Lancaster. His company was privileged to donate $30,000 as one of four primary sponsors for the China mission. For many years, his family has donated $25.00 for each hearing aid sold, in support of the Starkey Foundations work in America and Worldwide.
