Illinois All American Hearing Golf Classic

More than 80 golfers braved the overcast sky and unseasonably cool temperatures on Friday, June 2, 2012, to continue a tradition of helping others hear. Now in its sixth year, The All American Hearing of Southern Illinois Celebrity Golf Classic raises money for the Starkey Hearing Foundation and its mission of helping the world hear.

Retired St. Louis Cardinals manager and Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog and two of his star players, Danny Cox and John Costello, travel each year to Franklin County Country Club for the event. “This is a great thing, a wonderful thing,” said Herzog, who has worked with the foundation for more than a dozen years, said. “When you put hearing aids in the ears of a child who is hearing impaired, the child lights up. It touches your heart.”

Twenty-one people, mostly children, were fitted with new hearing aids before the start of the golf scramble, thanks to a partnership between the foundation and All American Hearing of Southern Illinois.

Ronica Johnson of Harrisburg brought her daughter Tori, 10, to the event to get fitted for the second pair of hearing aids she has gotten through the program. “Even with insurance, hearing aids are still very costly,” Johnson said. “ We are very thankful for the program.”

All American Hearing of Southern Illinois has fitted more than 400 local residents with hearing aids through the partnership.