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Local mom publishes book to help kids with hearing loss

Local mom publishes book to help kids with hearing loss

When Emily Mikoski's son was diagnosed with hearing loss, she set out to find a children's book that would help explain what he would be able to hear with hearing aids. After coming up short, she decided to write her own book and at the end of March she self published “Max and His Hearing Aids”.

 

Emily's son, Max, now four, was diagnosed with hearing loss as a newborn and has been wearing hearing aids since he was around five months old. Having never known a child with hearing aids, Emily says there was some initial uncertainty about what it would be like.

 

“For me it was very foreign,” says Emily, “It was very scary.”

 

The first hearing aids came with information pamphlets and booklets as well as book featuring an elephant who wore hearing aids. Emily says the elephant book was not only unrelated, but highly technical and difficult for a small child to understand.

 

LETEM Play expands beyond instruments to advocate music education

We first told you about LETEM Play in September, since then the non-profit started by two high school students has grown bigger than they creators could have ever imagined. Now, they are expanding and are offering more than just instruments.

 

LETEM- Life Enhancement Through Education in Music- was started by Katy Dolan and Philip Howard in February 2012. The Central Valley High School Juniors decided they wanted to share something they loved while making a difference in their community. LETEM provides instruments to students who can't afford them.

 

Now, a little over a year later, LETEM has branched off from just providing instruments. Dolan and Howard have also started providing music clinics to schools and groups that are trying to grow their music programs.

 

Footloose in the Palouse turns your attic finds into eBay treasure

Footloose in the Palouse turns your attic finds into eBay treasure

Do you know what collectibles may be lurking in your attic? A new business in Rockford is here to help you turn those attic finds into cash treasures.

 

Laurie and Bill Benson opened Footloose in the Palouse, an eBay consignment business in early March, and so far they've been greeted with great enthusiasm.

 

“Everyday is like Christmas, you never know what's going to walk through the door,” says Laurie adding that they'll sell anything online. The Benson's are working hard to not only sell items on eBay for their clients, but also to educate the community on what has become collectible.

 

Gonzaga students create Hope for Zambezi

Gonzaga students create Hope for Zambezi

Zambia is one of the most peaceful countries in Africa, but it is also one of the poorest and has one of the world's most devastating HIV and AIDS epidemics. In the village of Zambezi, many of the people lack food to take with their medication, but students at Gonzaga University are working to change that.

 

Zambezi has a population of about 7,000, similar to Quincy, WA. Now, imagine if 83 percent of Quincy lived in extreme poverty, many of them were positive for HIV/AIDS, and the life expectancy was only 49. That is the reality for the people of Zambezi.

 

Across the country of Zambia antiretroviral medication is readily available, but the people of Zambezi are too poor to maintain the proper nutrition for the treatments to be effective. The impact goes beyond individual health.

 

Feeding 5000 one crayon at a time

Feeding 5000 one crayon at a time

Two Spokane families are on a mission to provide meals for 5000 homeless, and they plan on doing it one crayon at a time.

 

The idea behind Colors of Hope is simple, take old, broken crayons and melt them down to make new, even better ones. Maliaka Hefling and her family of seven came up with idea after reading an article about a similar project in her son's children's magazine.

 

The Heflings, along with another family, are already busy collecting old crayons. 100 percent of the proceeds from selling the new crayons will go directly to the Union Gospel Mission. The family toured the charity in February and were amazed at all the services they provided to area homeless.

 

Bacon is better

Bacon is better

 

There are few words in life that can leave you breathless. Most of the time we hear about people being left breathless the first time someone says “I love you” to them. Unfortunately for thousands of people each year, the word that leaves them breathless is cancer.

“I went in for a mammogram and they said 'oh we see something here',” said Terry Bacon. “When my doctor called to tell me... complete shock. I couldn't move. Nothing existed anymore but that word cancer. It's overwhelming. You forget to breathe and you don't know how to deal with it.”

The 68-year old Spokane great-grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in May of 2012. In the following months she underwent a lumpectomy and radiation treatment.

“I didn't have to go through the chemo. I can't imagine what it's like to go through chemo,” said Terry.

The cancer is now gone, but Terry is still healing and she knows her life changed instantly and forever when her doctor said that word, cancer.