Tickets Available Now!

Friday, November 17, 2023 is the date for our annual BBQ/Oyster Roast Fundraiser for BEGINNINGS! The location will be North Hills Club, 5-9 p.m. There will be beer, wine, oysters, BBQ and children's activities. Proceeds support our work with families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing in North Carolina.

Thank you to our in-kind sponsors: Earps Seafood, Bowstring Brewery, Total Wine, Longleaf Swine, and R&M Blue Pig BBQ! Thank you to our corporate sponsors TowneBank and Bailey Dixon. Thank you to our sponsors Kelly and Graham Day.

EARLY BIRD TICKETS

BEGINNINGS Receives Ragland Foundation Grant

The W. Trent Ragland Jr. Foundation has awarded BEGINNINGS a grant to expand our Grants to Parents program, which they helped establish with a gift back in 2013. The grant will help us with updating the application process in both English and Spanish, as well as providing funding to enhance these emergency grants for hearing-loss related expenses not covered by insurance. We are grateful for the support and the continuation of our relationship with the Foundation!

Family Workshops Help Families Post COVID

BEGINNINGS recently held two Family Workshops, one in Greensboro and one in Charlotte, to help parents whose children are deaf or hard of hearing cope with the aftermath of the COVID epidemic. These workshops were made possible by a Federal grant that BEGINNINGS received a year ago. The free workshops included childcare, lunch, a guest speaker from The Council for Children's Rights and a guest speaker from New Leaf Behavioral Health. (Photos below from the workshop held August 26 in Greensboro.)

Recent Staff Conferences

Our staff members are in demand for their expertise! Here are just a few recent conferences where staff represented BEGINNINGS: Children's Cochlear Implant Center Hear N Now Conference (Kelleigh Bland, Lead Parent Educator and Diane Doak, Executive Director); Coalition for Global Hearing Health on Empowering Parents Through Education (Kelleigh and Diane); and the Southeast Regional Institute on Deafness, or SERID (Kelleigh and Joanna Chantemerle, Director of Programs).

Q&A: Executive Director Diane Doak

Q: Tell us a little about your background.

A: I grew up near Philadelphia but always loved being outdoors. I went to West Virginia University where I majored in Recreation Therapy. This combined my love for the outdoors with my desire to help people. This is where I met my husband, Doug. We lived in Texas for about 8 years where both my boys were born. We missed having four seasons, so we moved to Charlotte to be closer to the ocean, the mountains and to family. Doug and I have been in NC for 33 years and we plan to retire here!

(Click here to read the full article.)

156 Wind Chime Ct Suite A
Raleigh, NC 27615 US

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