Minneapolis, Sept. 15, 2010 - Starkey Laboratories, Inc., a world leader in hearing technology, is proud to announce that the Starkey Hearing Foundation teamed up with ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" to provide hearing aids to more than 200 students and their family members from the Oregon School for the Deaf in Salem, Ore. Students and faculty members visited Starkey's headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minn., this week as special guests of the Foundation, while the Extreme Makeover team completed a building project. NFL player Adrian Peterson and actor Marlee Matlin were on hand to meet the kids.
"We always go where we can help and this project seemed perfect," said Bill Austin, CEO and Founder of the Starkey Hearing Foundation. "These are really great kids and we knew we could improve hearing for most of them. It made sense to bring the students to Minnesota where we could address hearing issues with maximum resources at our disposal."
The students and their families visited a number of local attractions in the Twin Cities before returning home. One of the highlights including taking in a Twins game at Target Field, where they performed "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" for the seventh inning stretch.
The Emmy award winning reality program "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," now entering its eighth season, is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. Its executive producers are Brady Connell and George Verschoor. David Goldberg is Chairman of Endemol North America. The show airs Sundays from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
About Starkey Hearing Foundation (SHF)
Starkey Hearing Foundation is the Global Leader in the Gift of Hearing, delivering more than 50,000 hearing aids annually through hearing missions in 86 countries. Founded by William F. Austin in 1984 with the vision So the World May Hear, countless numbers of lives are touched by better hearing through SHF missions. Since 2000, the Foundation has distributed more than 450,000 hearing aids to those in need around the world. Visit starkeyhearingfoundation.org to learn more.
About Starkey®
Starkey Laboratories, Inc. is a privately held, global hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn. The company is recognized for its innovative design, development and distribution of comprehensive digital hearing systems. Founded in 1967, Starkey currently employs more than 3,250 people, operates 22 facilities and conducts business in more than 100 markets worldwide. For more information, visit StarkeyPro.com or the Starkey Web Channel on Audiology Online.
