2025 Ear Community Microtia and Atresia Summer Family Picnics
Ear Community hosts picnics every year around the world helping bring Microtia and Atresia families together. This year’s picnics will take place in the United States in Idaho Falls, Idaho/ Richmond, Virginia/ Wilton Manors, Florida/ Long Island, New York/ Atlanta, Georgia/ Nashville, Tennessee/ and Oakville, Canada! It is very exciting for many families! Everyone enjoys attending our picnics and our Ear Community picnics always offer such a wonderful opportunity for Microtia and Atresia families to come together, share experiences with each other, and maybe even make a new friend. Medical professionals such as world renown Microtia and Atresia repair surgeons, anaplastologists, ENTs, audiologists, and therapists along with the world’s leading hearing device companies all come together to mingle with us at our picnics, helping educate us on all of our options including hearing loss.
Our events are held outdoors providing a relaxed environment and so the kids can play. Sometimes an indoor location is needed when collaborating with a surgeon conference.
A special thank you to our amazing Ear Community Sponsors!
Platinum Sponsors
Cochlear Americas
Oticon Medical
MED-EL USA
*** This year’s Ear Community events are made possible thanks to our organization’s proud Sponsors, Donor Organizations and our Community Contributors! Without the continued support of our sponsors, donor organizations and community contributors, we would not be able to bring our Microtia and Atresia families together at our events as we have done for the past decade. We also would not be able to work on all of the research and studies that our organization contributes to that help benefit our community in the future. Ear Community is thankful and appreciates the continued support from all of our supporters! Your support means the world to our families, our community and to our organization! ***
We look forward to seeing everyone at our Ear Community picnics this year!
Melissa Tumblin,
Founder and Executive Director
Ear Community
Microtia and Atresia Support Group on Facebook
2025 Picnics and Events
School Deaf and Hard of Hearing Game Night
Date: February 7th, 2025
Time: 5:30PM to 8PM MT
Virginia Commonwealth University
Ear Community Webinar for Microtia Families
Date: March 13, 2025
Time: 7:30PM ET
School Deaf and Hard of Hearing Game Night
Date: April 17th, 2025
Time: 5:30PM to 8PM MT
American Cleft Palate Association
82nd Annual Meeting
Palm Springs, California
May 6th-10th, 2025
* Ear Community will be presenting at this
conference as a member of the CARE Study Team
grant working on research for microtia, atresia and
craniofacial microsomia with Seattle Children’s Hospital
and the Center for Appearance Research (UK).
Oticon Medical Ambassador Meeting
Chicago, Illinois
June 6th-8th, 2025
Idaho Ear Community Picnic
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Date: Saturday, June 14th, 2025
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com
Virginia Ear Community Picnic
Richmond, Virginia
Date: Saturday, June 21st, 2025
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com
Florida Ear Community Picnic
Wilton Manors, Florida
Date: Saturday , June 28th 2025
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com
New York Ear Community Picnic
Long Island, New York
Date: Saturday, July 12th, 2025
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com
Ontario, Canada Ear Community Picnic
Oakville, Ontario
Date: Saturday – July 19th, 2025
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com
Georgia Ear Community Picnic
Atlanta, Georgia
Date: Saturday, July 19th, 2025
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com
Tennessee Ear Community Picnic
Nashville, Tennessee
Date: Saturday, July 26th, 2025
Time: 8AM to 12PM (conference) and 12PM to 4PM (picnic)
RSVP to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com
* This Ear Community picnic will be in collaboration with the Vanderbilt Microtia & Atresia conference that will take place at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (in the Children’s Hospital). This conference is a wonderful opportunity to learn about all of your options for Microtia & Atresia. A special thank you to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt for helping host our Microtia and Atresia event.
National Microtia and Atresia Awareness Day
Every November 9th!
* Raise awareness with us throughout the United States and across
the world!
* See our home page links on when to order t-shirts and accessories
for our special day! (orders are usually during mid Sept. thru early Oct.)
Idaho Falls, Idaho (USA)
June 14th, 2025
It was a beautiful day in Idaho Falls, Idaho at our Ear Community picnic! This was the first time we enjoyed an orchestra and jazz band in the park during our special day and this was all thanks to our picnic host, Daniel Baldwin! So many of our kids and adults who were born with microtia and atresia love music even though they have hearing loss! Well, Daniel is walking proof of this – being born with unilateral microtia and atresia, earning a Masters Degree along with two PhDs and finding his way to a career in music that he loves and enjoys as a musical composer, director and professor! It was an amazing day for all of us to hear Daniel’s bands perform for us! Daniel wanted to make this day a special day for everyone and one that he would always remember that would allow him to give back to the microtia and atresia community not just by our event and bringing our community together, but through his beautiful music! Daniel found our Ear Community Organization a couple of years through a friend (named Kimberly) he met years ago when they were children at the time having surgery with Dr. Burt Brent for outer ear reconstruction. Daniel had never met anyone else who was born with microtia and atresia all these years until our picnic on Saturday! Our adults with microtia shined as role models for the little kids. Moms found peace in speaking with other moms! I was able to meet some of the adults that I have gotten to watch grow up over the years when they were just kiddos! It definitely was an incredible day! It was also wonderful meeting Daniel’s family (his mom, Sherri and dad Donnie, girlfriend Amanda and friend, Matt). I enjoyed getting to spend some time with Daniel’s mom, listening to her journey when Daniel was growing up and how she advocated for him and how she made it work to get him a new ear! It was a wonderful time meeting Daniel’s family and I am so grateful to him for being our picnic host. I enjoyed watching Daniel laughing and sharing stories with everyone on Saturday!
We had a little over 100 people join on our special day in Idaho Falls who traveled from all over Idaho, including coming from Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Ohio, Washington, California and Nebraska! The kids enjoyed fun balloon art and getting their faces painted while Daniel’s band performed for everyone throughout our picnic. We had five adults with microtia and atresia, including Daniel, who enjoyed coming together to compare notes and enjoy some great conversations with each other! You could tell there was such a special bond between them! We also had many moms share with each other about how the journey was for their kids while growing up. Some of these children are now adults and brought their babies to our special day with them or their children who were with us at the picnic! I know it sounds a little crazy, but the babies and children all had two beautiful ears! How wonderful to see when this is such a common concern in our community regarding whether or not our children will also be missing an ear or two. One of my favorite part of Saturday was getting to see some of the adults who are all grown up now that I have known in our community for nearly 15 years! To see them all grown up with families or to be teens and happy meant everything to me! Another special surprise was finding Heidi Jeffs at our event! Heidi used to work for me, helping me organize all of our Ear Community events for five years! She is so amazing that she jumped right into action at the Ear Community table, helping answer questions for the families visiting our table. Thank you Heidi and her beautiful daughter, Rosalee, for helping once again! Dr. Russell Griffiths also joined us and helped answer questions about outer ear reconstruction! Thank you for being a part of our special day, Dr. Griffiths!
As Ear Community’s Founder, I also shared about all of the important work our organization does – from hosting our events that have brought over 20,000 people together over the past 15 years to donating over 175 bone conduction hearing devices to children and adults in need, to talking about the Federal Legislation we have in place known as Ally’s Act that would ensure private insurers cover bone anchored hearing devices to talking about awareness and National Microtia and Atresia Awareness Day. One very important thing to me was to make sure every mom knows not to blame herself for her child’s missing ears because this isn’t something they did during pregnancy! We talked about the genetic research Ear Community has done showing new findings on chromosome 3 of an increased risk of microtia and craniofacial microsomia, specifically the FOXI3 location.
Thank you so much to everyone who attended our Idaho Falls Ear Community picnic for making our day extra special!
* A very special thank you to the Gross Family Foundation for your incredible support to our Ear Community Organization and for helping make Pax’s Ear Fund and Pax’s Eyewear Fund possible through our organization for our community to benefit from! A special thank you to the Omnium Foundation too for the incredible support to our organization!
Thank you to Ear Community’s Sponsors:* A special thank you James Hermsen of Suh Hermsen Strap LLC, for being with us in Idaho to share your microtia eyeglasses and sunglasses with our kids that attended! James handed out lots of glasses! He is amazing and through Pax’s Eyewear Fund, we have James helping support our community! I am grateful for your work, James!
Thank you to all of the audiologists who joined us at our picnic educating us on hearing loss and the latest in bone conduction hearing devices for our community! Thank you also to Britney for your beautiful face art with Glittering Grotto and to Chris with PapaTophi’s Entertainment for your talented balloon art! Thank you for helping make our day a little extra special and fun and for putting bright smiles on all of the microtia and atresia kiddos who attended our Ear Community picnic! Thank you also to Brian Pullen for helping pick up the cakes and sandwich trays from Costco! You have no idea how much this really helped us out!
Ear Community
Here are some fun memories from our special Ear Community microtia and atresia event!
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- Dr. Daniel Baldwin – usical composer, director and professor.
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- Daniel and Amanda and Daniel’s community jazz band.
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- Daniel and his parents.
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- Shopping for the picnic.
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- Daniels parents (Sherri and Donnie), Daniel and Amanda, Matt and Melissa.
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- Daniel directing his concert band.
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- Melissa Tumblin of Ear Community with Dr. Daniel Baldwin.
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- Daniel’s jazz band.
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- Daniel and his daughter, Eryn.
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- Daniel’s friends and family.
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- Brian Pullen with Melissa and Daniel and his parents, Stacie and Gary.
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- The Smyth family
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- Daniel’s band
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- Smiling faces
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- Orchestra in the park.
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- Saniel and Gabe with Sayer
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- Daniel’s band
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- Daniel’s band
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- Daniel’s community jazz and orchestra bands.
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- Gabe and Brian exchanging stories.
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- Thank you to Cochlear Americas for being a Platinum Sponsor to Ear Community
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- Beautiful Rosalee!
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- Thank you to MED-EL for being a Platinum sponsor!
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- Ear Community’s Melissa Tumblin with picnic host Daniel and James Hermsen and Cochlear, MED-EL and Oticon Medical friends!
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- Thank you to Oticon Medical for being a Platinum Sponsor!
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- Cool face art!
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- Exchanging stories.
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- 2025 Idaho Falls, ID Ear Community picnic.
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- Cool microtia glasses!
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- Our cake
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- Heidi at the Ear Community table.
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- The Smyth family!
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- The Murphy Family
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- The Jeffs Family
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- Gabe, Melissa and Brian.
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- Microtia kids and adults.
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- Smiling faces.
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- Smiling faces
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- Smiling faces
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- Smiling faces.
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- Dr. Russell Griffiths and Oticon Medical.
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- Adult role models sharing with microtia kids.
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- 2025 Idaho Falls, ID Ear Community picnic
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- Smiling faces.
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- Oticon Medical table with Ponto and Sentio.
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- Education at an Ear Community picnic.
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- Cochlear table with Baha and Osia.
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- James Hermsen and microtia glasses
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- Balloon art
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- Lunch
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- Exchanging stories.
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- James Hermen and microtia glasses
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- Cochlear table with Baha and Osia.
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- Smiling faces.
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- Ear Community family
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- Smiling faces.
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- Amazing face art with Britney!
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- James and Gabe talking glasses
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- Daniel, Heidi and Rosalee
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- Ear Community Platinum Sponsors (Cochlear Americas, MED-EL and Oticon Medical)
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- Smiling faces
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- Cochlear Americas
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- 2025 Idaho Falls Ear Community picnic
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- 2025 Idaho Falls Ear Community picnic
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- 2025 Idaho Falls Ear Community picnic
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- Melissa, Dr. Griffiths and Heidi – like ole times.
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- Smiling faces.
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- Balloon art with Chris!
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- Lunch
Richmond, Virginia (USA)
June 21st, 2025
It was a beautiful day for our Ear Community families who joined us during our Richmond, Virginia microtia and atresia picnic! We had about 100 people come from all over the Virginia area, including Maryland, DC, Nebraska, Colorado, Ohio and North Carolina! Our picnic was hosted by Joshua Shrader and Christopher Bowman, both who were born with unilateral microtia and atresia and are adults now! Our day was extra special because Joshua and Christopher had the opportunity to share their experience and journeys with the families who attended. Most of all, they enjoyed spending time with the children and were incredible role models, helping answer questions about growing up and the surgeries they had when they were younger.
In our community, we always say that we do not let little or missing ears and hearing loss define us or get in the way of the lives we wish to live. Joshua and Christopher are incredible examples of this! We talked about our options and that everyone makes different decisions for different reasons. When Joshua was a little boy, he had jaw surgery. He currently does not wear a hearing device either. Joshua is an incredible person, father, coach and advocate in our community, has a successful career in banking and finance and is also an Ear Community Board Member! Joshua has a beautiful family with his wife, Emily, and three children, Landon, James and Ellie Grace. Joshua has also helped advocate for Ally’s Act in DC! When Chris was little, he had outer ear reconstruction with Dr. Burt Brent. He also does not currently wear a hearing device. Chris is one of the twins in our community, with a twin sister named, Meredith, who was not born with microtia and atresia. He has helped advocate for Ally’s Act in DC and is Ear Community’s college scholarship coordinator for our organization! Chris is currently in medical school at UVA working toward becoming an ENT and graduated from Chapel Hill in North Carolina! He has already worked on research with our collaborative research team that will help our community down the road! Chris is an INCREDIBLE person and this was Chris’ second Ear Community picnic he has helped host bringing our beautiful community together! Thank you for donating the goody bags for the kids too!
Many heartwarming things happened during our Virginia picnic this year! I watched the excitement and pride that Joshua and Christopher shared bringing our community together! We had many repeat attendee families join us on Saturday, making our events feel like wonderful family reunions every time we come together (I always love seeing the Herzing and Logan Families – our past picnic host families)! It’s also great to see how much all of the kids are growing up! It was wonderful seeing many families wearing their microtia awareness t-shirts too! Our thank you speeches to the community were very emotional and moving, sharing how much we truly care about our community and the good work and support that Ear Community offers to everyone! It was very emotional to see other moms come together to talk about their experiences in the same situation and compare notes on their journeys. We reminded our community moms that they didn’t do anything wrong during their pregnancies to cause our children’s missing ears. I watched Chris help a Spanish speaking family with a translation app and I watched Joshua’s family and Chris’ mom, Jennifer, mingle with everyone, truly making a difference for so many others on our special day! We talked about important it is to never feel alone with microtia and atresia. Dr. Brad Kesser also joined us, who is a legend in the ENT field when it comes to microtia and atresia! Dr. Kesser mingled with our families, helping answer questions. He also enjoyed getting to see some of his patients like Jennifer and Bevie at our picnic too! having Dr. Kesser be at our event meant a lot for our picnic host, Chris, as he feels he has come full circle because he once was Dr. Kesser’s patient when he was little and now he is Dr. Kesser’s student in medical school! Our day was full of love and kindness and created lots of wonderful memories that will last a lifetime! It was great seeing so many familiar faces and new faces! I even got to see a friend from college who joined us on our special day! It was definitely a priceless day for all of us! We also shared about how important Ally’s Act is and getting help from our community so this bill can pass!
* A very special thank you to the Gross Family Foundation for your incredible support to our Ear Community Organization and for helping make Pax’s Ear Fund and Pax’s Eyewear Fund possible through our organization for our community to benefit from! A special thank you to the Omnium Foundation too for the incredible support to our organization!
Thank you to Ear Community’s Sponsors:* A special thank you Lauren of Suh Hermsen Strap LLC for being with us in Richmond to share about microtia eyeglasses and sunglasses with our kids that attended! Thank you to Lawrence with Cochlear Americas and Casey with Oticon Medical who educated us on hearing loss and the latest in bone conduction hearing devices for our community and to thank you to Ava (a soon to be audiologist) who volunteered! Thank you also to Honey for your beautiful face art with Flourish and Dots and to the ever INCREDIBLE and talented Jonathan Austin for your amazing magic, juggling and balloon art! Thank you for helping make our day a little extra special and fun and for putting bright smiles on all of the microtia and atresia kiddos who attended our Ear Community picnic!
Ear Community
Here are some fun memories from our special Ear Community microtia and atresia event!
Wilton Manors, Florida (USA)
June 28th, 2025
It was a beautiful day for our Ear Community families who joined us during our Wilton Manors, Florida microtia and atresia picnic! We had about 55 people come from all over Florida! Our picnic was hosted by Clarissa and Jackson LaFirst and their family (Jackson’s dad Leonard and brother Jakob). I remember when Jackson’s mom, Clarissa, found our support group 15 years ago! It goes beyond words the bond that parents make when they feel lost and alone and then find someone else in the same situation! Finally, 15 years later, getting to meet Clarissa and the LaFirst Family in person – was priceless for me and Ally and so special! We talked about how far Ear Community’s picnics have come since first starting out with some of our organization’s very first events! When Clarissa asked Jackson if he wanted to host our picnic this year, he said absolutely and was excited to bring our community together! It was extra special this time as we watched our kids get to hang out together now that they are older!
This was the second time the LaFirst Family has hosted an Ear Community picnic in Florida (the first time was in 2013), when Jackson was just a baby! Jackson was born with unilateral microtia and atresia and is 15 years old now! This picnic was extra special for Jackson because he got to be a role model to the other kids who attended our event and share his journey with everyone. It was also special because Jackson was joined by Reid and Ally (two more children in our community with microtia and atresia), who are also 15 years old! These kids have grown up together through our community since they were babies, even though they have lived in different states. Our families have remained in close contact with each other and are so lucky we found each other all those years ago! Jackson is such a confident young man today who embraces having microtia and atresia!
Now, this is how much our Ear Community events mean to our microtia and atresia families! Not only did Jackson and his family jump at the chance to host our Florida event again, but the LaFirst family drove from over 6 hours away to help make sure our special day took place for our community, which is INCREDIBLE! Jackson’s dad, Lenny, is also an amazing person! Lenny helped make sure that we had everything that was needed, including organizing our cleanup crew following our event! Thank you, Lenny and Jakob for helping and making sure everything was taken care of! You and Jakob and Jackson and Clarissa are truly good people and I am so happy that we were able to have your help again during this last weekend! Donna ,one of our community members, enjoyed our special day as an adult who had never met someone else with microtia and atresia. I’m so happy you spent the day with all of us and had the opportunity to meet some many others in the same situation!
Thank you so much to James Hermsen for helping educate us on eye and sunglasses for microtia kids! James has been coming to our Ear Community picnics for years! Thanks to Ear Community’s Pax’s Eyewear Fund, made possible by the Gross Family Foundation and Pax, the eyeglasses and sunglasses James designs are given out to our picnic attendees for FREE! Thank you to the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind for being with us and also the Children’s Hearing Program through the University of Miami! Thank you to David Trainer for joining us too as our anaplastologist from the Center for Custom Prosthetics, helping educate us on prosthetic ears! We enjoyed fun magic from Magic Jack Maxwell and I have to say I saw some of the most incredible balloon art and face art I have ever seen (and I have been to over 130 of our picnics) thanks to Blessed Creations! Ally and I were delighted to also have some of our family (Mike and Barbara) stop by and visit us during our event who happen to live in the area! Barbara, who is a bit of a celebrity, happens to be a past cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins (79-81)! How exciting!
In addition to sharing about the important and wonderful work Ear Community does for our community, we updated everyone on our genetics research and we also shared updates on Ally’s Act and our Fly-ins for our organization’s piece of legislation next week on Capitol Hill in DC!
* A very special thank you to the Gross Family Foundation for your incredible support to our Ear Community Organization and for helping make Pax’s Ear Fund and Pax’s Eyewear Fund possible through our organization for our community to benefit from! A special thank you to the Omnium Foundation too for the incredible support to our organization!
Thank you to Ear Community’s Sponsors:* Thank you to everyone for helping make our day a little extra special and fun and for putting bright smiles on all of the microtia and atresia kiddos who attended our Ear Community picnic!
Ear Community
Here are some fun memories from our special Ear Community microtia and atresia event!
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- The LaFirst Family, our 2025 Florid Ear Community picnic hosts.
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- Jackson when he was a baby with his brother, Jakob.
Port Washington, New York (USA)
July 12th, 2025
We had a wonderful time bringing our microtia and atresia families together in Port Washington, NY on Saturday, July 12th, thanks to our beautiful picnic host family – The Kosoglyadov Family (Alex, Kristina, Amelia, Ivy and Jett)! We had families join us from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Oregon, California, Colorado, Nebraska and Florida! Thank you to Alex and Kristina for finding us the perfect location for our special day right next to North Hempstead Beach Park, which was such a beautiful location, and for making our day possible! So many of us have such wonderful memories of coming together thanks to both of you for organizing our day for all of us!
I remember when Alex and Kristina first attended our Ear Community picnic in 2019 in New Jersey, with sweet little Amelia, who was just a baby at the time! Alex and Kristina felt so relieved to have found our community and to be surrounded by so many other families in the same situation at our NJ picnic years ago, finding the answers they were looking for and to realize that they were not alone. I remember how relieved they both were knowing that beautiful little Amelia was going to be okay! Amelia was born with unilateral microtia and atresia and has since then grown into a beautiful little girl who has welcomed a new ear into her life thanks to Dr. Sheryl Lewin and wears the Ponto system on a soft band headband to restore her hearing. The Kosoglyadov Family means a lot to me! So many of us in our community become close and Kristina and Alex are like family to me! Since Amelia was born, I have watched Kristina shine as an incredible advocate in our community! In addition to her career as a teacher in the state of NY, Kirstina has gone on to advocate for other families in our community as well as advocate for Ally’s Act with Alex and meeting with Senator Chuck Schumer’s office! Alex and Kristina are also donors to our organization, where they have been able to help another child receive the gift of hearing!
Our picnic was full of emotions, with lots of relief and happiness and tears of joy! For some families, this was their first Ear Community picnic they’ve attended and for others it was a repeat picnic over the years. We had children interacting together, sharing their microtia and atresia journeys. We had families confiding in each other about decisions they are interested in making and have already made. We were one big family enjoying time together, knowing we are all here for each other and that we are never alone with microtia and atresia! Kristina reminded everyone of how important it is to find your village and offered to share her experience as a teacher with IEP and 504 Plans in the school classroom and offered to help connect families in the NY area! Kristina also put together the cutest goody bags for the kids! I enjoyed finally meeting members of our community in person that I have gotten to know over the years and my daughters, Hailey and Ally and our friend, Morgan Rhodes, helped out at our Ear Community table. We also welcomed the beautiful McDevitt Family (Lindsey, Ryan and baby Brooke)! Ryan has been helping us champion Ally’s Act in DC and Lindsey designed our microtia and atresia awareness t-shirt for our awareness day this year as well as write a book on BAHAs called, “Brooke’s BAHA,” which can be found on Amazon here!
Kristina and Amelia and their family shared their excitement for hosting our special day through the following beautiful speech that Kristina made at our picnic:
“This weekend our family has the honor of hosting the New York Ear Community picnic with Melissa Tumblin and the Ear Community Organization, which is near and dear to my heart.
Our journey began when our daughter Amelia was born with unilateral Microtia Atresia, resulting in maximum conductive hearing loss. I’ll never forget those first few days after her birth; an emotional roller coaster filled with moments of overwhelming love, uncertainty, fear, and hope. But throughout all the questions and emotions, there was a glimmer of comfort: another parent who had walked this very path before us- Melissa Tumblin.
We found our way to Melissa and the Ear Community thanks to the magic of Google and from the moment we connected, we felt an incredible sense of relief and belonging. We weren’t alone. There were others who had been through this, who understood every question and every worry; whether it was about hearing devices, school accommodations, or just making headphones or glasses fit right. Melissa and this community have consistently shown up with not only answers but with open hearts and unconditional support.
Now more than ever, it’s so important to have this kind of community- a shared bond that unites us with the same purpose: supporting our children, affirming that they are perfect exactly as they are, and advocating for their place in this world. The Ear Community is more than just a resource, it’s a family. A place where strangers become friends, where stories are shared across the world, and where we lift each other up through both the good times and tough times.
I think this picnic healed a piece of me, that new mom who was so lost and scared beyond belief. I had no idea what the future held for Amelia. But, thanks to so many in this community, especially Melissa, I am a stronger advocate, better mom, and a resilient person. As for my daughter, I can confidently say, with every fiber of my being, that the sky’s the limit for our sweet girl.”
Thank you so much to James Hermsen of SuhHermsen Strap and Dr. Donny Suh for helping educate us on eye and sunglasses for microtia kids! James has been coming to our Ear Community picnics for years! Thanks to Ear Community’s Pax’s Eyewear Fund, made possible by the Gross Family Foundation and Pax, the eyeglasses and sunglasses James designs are given out to our picnic attendees for FREE! Thank you to Dr. Randi Tepper of NYEE for spending the day with all of us helping answer audiology related questions and to Meredith Newman of Clarke Schools for being with us! Thank you to Maddie Singer of Medical Art Prosthetics for joining us too as our anaplastologist educating us on prosthetic ears! The kids smiles were even brighter thanks to Heidy Castro painting beautiful face art! Thank you also to Heidy for donating her time as our face painter at our event! We enjoyed fun magic from Didi Maxx and beautiful balloon art by Princess Jasmine from Adrenaline Entertainment! In addition to sharing about the important and wonderful work Ear Community does for our community, we updated everyone on our genetics research and we also shared updates on Ally’s Act and our Fly-ins for our organization’s piece of legislation that we did last week on Capitol Hill in DC!
* A very special thank you to the Gross Family Foundation for your incredible support to our Ear Community Organization and for helping make Pax’s Ear Fund and Pax’s Eyewear Fund possible through our organization for our community to benefit from! A special thank you to the Omnium Foundation too for the incredible support to our organization!
Thank you to Ear Community’s Sponsors:* Thank you to everyone for helping make our day a little extra special and fun and for putting bright smiles on all of the microtia and atresia kiddos who attended our Ear Community picnic!
Ear Community
Here are some fun memories from our special Ear Community microtia and atresia event!
Oakville, Ontario (CANADA)
July 19th, 2025
Our Ontario Ear Community microtia & atresia picnic took place this Saturday in Oakville, ON Canada! We had around 100 people attend our special community day! This was at least our 7th picnic hosted in Canada over the years by our Ear Community Organization!
Our picnic was hosted by two beautiful families: Kripa, Ryan, Jahnu & Daeven Raman & Silvia, Jag, Oliver & Kieran Luu! It was a beautiful day where our families came together, shared stories & their journey w/microtia & atresia! This was Kripa & Jahnu’s 2nd time hosting our special day w/their family! Kripa found our Ear Community Organization when Jahnu was born, feeling lost & alone, looking for help. Today, Kripa has really become an incredible advocate in the Canadian community since Jahnu was born with microtia & atresia of his left ear! Kripa enjoys bringing our families together, sharing her family’s journey & others advocate!
Silvia, Jag, Oliver & Kieran Luu co-hosted our picnic this year with the Raman family helping bring our community together. Silvia has also become an incredible advocate since Oliver was born with bilateral microtia & atresia & Treacher Collins Syndrome. Oliver wears two Ponto 5 Minis on a soft band headband & just turned 4 years old! Silvia & her family found our Ear Community in the beginning of their journey with Oliver’s hearing loss. Silvia recalls the beginning being such a terrifying time in their lives when they were trying to find information, resources & the help they were looking for. They are grateful for the help they have received from our Ear Community for Oliver!
As special thank you to our Ear Community Platinum Sponsors for supporting the work our organization does & making our special days possible! Thank you to Kieran Peacock of Cochlear Americas joining us to share his journey with microtia & to also educate on Baha & Osia, thank you to Jodi Ostroff for being with us from MED-EL USA educating everyone on ADHEAR & BONEBRIDGE & to Siiri Fortey of Oticon Medical for educating on Ponto & Sentio! Thank you to PartyTO for making our day extra special by putting smiles on our family’s faces! It was a wonderful day spent together!* A very special thank you to the Gross Family Foundation for your incredible support to our Ear Community Organization and for helping make Pax’s Ear Fund and Pax’s Eyewear Fund possible through our organization for our community to benefit from! A special thank you to the Omnium Foundation too for the incredible support to our organization!
Thank you to Ear Community’s Sponsors:Thank you most of all to Kripa & Jahnu & Silvia & Oliver for making everything happen on Saturday! We could not have had our picnic day without all of your help!
Here are some fun memories from our special day!
Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
July 19th, 2025
It was a beautiful day in Georgia this Saturday for our Ear Community microtia & atresia picnic! We had families join from all over Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas, Colorado & Nebraska!
Lauren and Perry Hoyal, along w/their beautiful children, Vada & Paxton, were our beautiful picnic host family! The Hoyal Family has been waiting to give back to their community by bringing our community together ever since Paxton was born w/microtia & atresia of his right ear! Saturday was everyone’s special day & Lauren did an amazing job managing our event w/every detail taken care of from fancy backdrops with balloons, to giving away fish in fish bowls & fancy goody bags w/printed Ear Community logos! Our picnic meant a lot to the Hoyal Family because they struggled to find the answers they were looking for when Paxton was born. Thank goodness for the Hoyal Family & their pediatrician for finding our Ear Community Organization! Ever since, our organization has been near & dear to Lauren & Perry & our picnic was something they have been looking forward to hosting! Lauren & Perry’s entire family was a big part of our special day too as they helped with everything from volunteering, taking pictures, setting up & tearing down! A huge thank you to Lauren’s family – Debbie, Jim, Wil, Jade & Sarah Harrell, Ben & Holly Hoyal, Rebekah Hanson & Audrey, Trent & Tyler & to Kit & Margot Logan for their beautiful face painting & tattoos for everyone! Our special day was amazing for everyone thanks to ALL OF YOU!
There were lots of happy tears from our families as they watched the kids play together! Janine, one of our adults with microtia & atresia, was overjoyed to meet so many children just like her as she had never met anyone else before with microtia & atresia. Janine also got to experience hearing for the first time out of her microtic/atretic ear with the ADHEAR by MED-EL & couldn’t believe she could hear out of her left ear after all of these years! So many families were so grateful for our special day & to finally come together at one of our Ear Community picnics after last having a picnic in Georgia nearly 9 years ago! I always feel emotional too meeting so many of our families who have been a part of our Ear Community over the years too! This is why our organization & the work we do is needed & why it is so important to our community!
We discussed our genetics research on microtia & atresia. Drs. Steve Goudy, David Chou, Nandini Govil & Erin Holman visited with us from (CHOA) Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta & Emory! Thank you! We also talked about how we need help from our community to write letters & make calls to their Congressmen & Senators now that Ally’s Act has been introduced again! Thank you so much to James Hermsen and Dr. Donny Suh of Adaptive Eyewear Solutions for helping so many children wear glasses better w/your microtia glasses! And thank you to Ron Anglin of Quite A Catch for putting smiles on our families with your incredible juggling & fun bubbles!
MED-EL USA – ADHEAR & BONEBRIDGE Systems
Oticon Medical – Ponto & Sentio Systems
Ear CommunityHere are some wonderful memories from our special day!
Nashville, Tennessee (USA)
July 26th, 2025
Here are some wonderful memories from our Vanderbilt & Ear Community microtia & atresia conference & picnic that took place on July 26th. Ear Community & Vanderbilt have been hosting our collaborative event together for nearly a decade now w/this event being incredibly special to me, being near & dear to my heart. We just love bringing our community together each time in Nashville & look forward to our next conference in 2027!
Thank you to the incredible group of medical professionals that make the Vanderbilt Microtia & Atresia Clinic & our conference such a wonderful experience for microtia families! I am grateful for all of you! Thank you to Drs. Scott Stephen, Dr. Brandy Stephens, Dr. Marc Bennett, Dr. Shi Yang, Dr. Jason Park, Dr. Filipina Schnabel & Scott Fiscus & Hannah McManus for an educational & wonderful day bringing our community together w/Ear Community!
A special thank you to our Ear Community picnic host, John Melson, for sharing his journey with microtia and atresia! In 2018, John decided to have a Medpor ear reconstructed by Dr. Stephan when he was 26 years old. Thank you, John, for sharing with us that it’s okay to make decisions as you go along your journey w/microtia! Thank you for also sharing your journey with all of us because everyone’s journey is different. When John was sharing his story during our picnic, he touched on how he experienced what it is like to be an adult with microtia and then to be an adult after having ear reconstruction. He also shared how his family did consider reconstructive surgery for him when he was younger, but he wasn’t ready when he was a child. Thinking back, he said he is grateful that he waited until he was ready and when he was older to make this decision. John’s beautiful family joined him (wife Sarah and children Jesse and Blake and also his parents, Liz and Jared). John and his parents were also part of our Vanderbilt parent/patient panel that followed our conference. This was a special day for John and for his family. It was a day for him to connect with our microtia and atresia community and help other families see a different perspective through his journey with microtia and atresia. Thank you for hosting our picnic and for traveling from Pennsylvania to do so!
Thank you to Ear Community’s Platinum Sponsors for helping make our special day possible & for educating everyone on the latest bone conduction hearing device systems (Cochlear Americas, MED-EL & Oticon Medical)! Thank you for your continued support to our organization & to our community! Thank you to James Hermsen for helping our microtia kids be able to wear glasses that stay up when you are missing an ear or 2 & for being able to give away glasses to every child at our event through Pax’s Eyewear Fund, made possible by the Gross Family Foundation for Ear Community! Our entertainment was top notch & wow did the kids LOVE Sunday the bunny! Thank you to Jim N’ Nicks for another delicious BBQ for everyone!
Thank you to beautiful Noelle McFarland for singing for us! Thank you also to Ear Community Board Members Alex Lang, Noelle McFarland & Chris Bowman for being w/us! Thank you to Abby for volunteering to help us too! Abby was born with microtia & atresia too & is working on her audiology degree!
I received so many messages from families saying that their hearts were full after our special day! This event is like a family reunion! Tears of joy & families feeling relieved that they are no longer alone w/microtia & atresia is priceless! It is always special to see the children & adults w/microtia & atresia at our event connect & share experiences together! This is so special each time, helping so many of our community members find more confidence & hear about other’s perspectives. My daughter, Ally, is also enjoying our events in different ways now that she is older & seems to be more open about sharing about her experience too as a teen w/microtia and atresia.
Thank you again for such a wonderful day for so many in our community! It’s always heart warming to see so many new & familiar faces! Here are some wonderful memories from our special day with Vanderbilt in Nashville!
Melissa Tumblin
Ear Community
