Fallon Deatherage

Staff Writer

Fernando Espinoza, a sophomore studying business administration, is getting steadily closer to his goal of sharing the gift of hearing with people in need by raising money to provide hearing aids.

“The goal is just to help as many people as possible,” he said.

He set a goal to raise $5,000, but the journey began a few months ago after a period of time characterized by uncertainty and personal difficulties for Espinoza.

“That’s not the reason I am doing this,” he said. “But all of that was the motivation to do something I have meant to do for a while.”

From there, Espinoza began reaching out to organizations and received constant rejection. When he reached out to the Starkey Hearing Foundation, they welcomed him to their team and set up his fundraiser.

The Starkey Foundation, founded in 1984, provides 100,000 hearing aids every year in 103 countries to people in need. By the year 2020, they plan to have distributed 1 million hearing aids through the Clinton Global Initiative.

Espinoza has found particular inspiration from the foundation’s founder, William Austin’s goal, “so the world may hear.” Espinoza enjoys watching videos of the people helped by the foundation who hear for the first time.

These videos never fail to bring a smile to his face.

“That’s what it’s all about,” he said. “At the end of the day, this isn’t about me or the money, it’s about changing people’s lives.”

Espinoza has spent a great deal of his time spreading the word, appearing on several local radio and television stations, speaking with local newspapers and sharing links on social media where people can donate. Although most of the responses he has received have been positive, Espinoza believes that people may feel some hesitance to donate using the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s online crowdfunding platform.

“I might have reached my goal by now if I had used GoFundMe,” he said. “But they take a percentage of the money, and Starkey makes sure everything donated goes to help people.”

Money is not the only thing that people can donate to help Espinoza reach his goal. He is also collecting old hearing aids and batteries that he can send to Starkey to be refurbished and fitted to the people who need them.

Espinoza received extra motivation to reach his goal after receiving a call from the executive director of the foundation, promising Espinoza the opportunity to travel with the foundation to fit and distribute the hearing aids.

“That would be a dream come true,” he said. “Getting to be there when someone hears for the first time, there would be no words for that.”

Although this helps him stay positive, Espinoza feels bittersweet emotion when he sees the thousands of people that have interacted with his social media posts.

“If each of those people had donated just one dollar, the goal would have been met,” he said. “I really mean it when I say anything helps.”

Anyone interested in donating to the Starkey Hearing Foundation can visit his fundraising page.