2026 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 Boston, Massachusetts/ San Diego, California/ Jeffersonville, Indiana/ San Antonio, Texas/ Broomfield, Colorado! 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
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
2026 Picnics and Events
American Cleft Palate Association
83rd Annual Meeting
Boston, Massachusetts
March 25th-28th, 2026
* Ear Community will be presenting at this
conference
Massachusetts Ear Community Picnic
Boston, Massachusetts
Date: Saturday, June 6th 2026
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Lauren at: LaurenEarCommunity@gmail.com
California Ear Community Picnic
San Diego, California
Date: Saturday, June 13th, 2026
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Lauren at: LaurenEarCommunity@gmail.com
HLAA 2026 Convention
Louisville, Kentucky
Date: June 10th to 12th, 2026
* Ear Community will be recognized as an
Advocacy Impact Award Recipient
Indiana Ear Community Picnic
Jeffersonville, Indiana
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2026
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Lauren at: LaurenEarCommunity@gmail.com
Texas Ear Community Picnic
San Antonio, Texas
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2026
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Lauren at: LaurenEarCommunity@gmail.com
Colorado Ear Community Picnic
and collaborative surgeon conference
with Dr. Sheryl Lewin
Broomfield, Colorado
Date: Saturday, July 25th, 2026
Time: 8AM to 5PM
* In collaboration with Dr. Sheryl Lewin’s Earicles Conference!
For picnic RSVP, email Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com
For conference details, please click here.
Colorado Rare Disease Fair
Date: October 12th and 13th, 2026
Children’s Hospital Colorado Anschutz
Medical Campus in Aurora, CO
For conference details, please click here.
* Ear Community will be a panelist on October 13th.
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.)
Brookline, Massachusetts (USA)
July 6th, 2026
It was a beautiful day at our Boston Ear Community Microtia and Atresia picnic that took place on Saturday, June 6th! We had around 140 people join us on our special day! Our day was filled with some families meeting each other for the first time and children and adults who had never met someone just like them. A little girl who was having so much fun, thought it was her birthday! Our picnics are always special and they are special because of our beautiful community!
A special thank you to our beautiful picnic host family, The Furze Family (Kim, Pat, Lena and Bennett), for bringing our community together in Brookline! From booking our park to picking up all of our food and speaking with families, welcoming them and sharing their journey with all of us – THANK YOU for our special day! Bennett was born with unilateral microtia and atresia and is aided with a Ponto 5 Mini! I remember when the Furze Family attended our first Boston picnic years ago and Bennett was in a stroller. Today, he is confident boy and enjoys being goofy and has lots of friends! His family has attended every Boston picnic our organization has hosted and I love how Bennett’s Grandparents (Ellen and Leon Paderson and Lynne and Bill Furze) support him in every way and come to our picnics for Bennett! Kim’s mom/Bennett’s Grandma, Ellen, is also a proud Ear Community Board Member and has been for the past 6 years! Both, Ellen and Bennett were born with microtia and atresia! We look forward to seeing everyone in Boston again in 2028!
We had some extra special guests join us during our picnic! Dr. Ron Eavey and his beautiful wife, Dr. Sheila Desmond, joined us along with Dr. Syed Kamil and his wife, Sandra! Both, Drs. Eavey and Kamil, are world renowned when it comes to the study of genetics and microtia and to have them with us was incredible! Dr. Eavey is the reason why our organization was able to collaborate on our latest genetics research! Drs. Eavey and Kamil helped revolutionize genetics research when it comes to microtia! What an honor to have them with us on our special day! Dr. Eavey is one of our Ear Community Advisory Board Members!
A special thank you to James Hermsen of SuhHermsen Adaptive Eyewear Solutions for educating us on microtia eyewear for kids (and adults) and giving everyone glasses! The glasses that James makes are gifted through our organization’s Pax’s Eyewear Fund, which is made possible by the Gross Family! Thank you to Kaylee Dougherty of Boston Ocular for educating us prosthetic ears! Thank you to our entertainers for making our day extra special and so fun for our families! Thank you to SillySallys for making incredible balloons and for the beautiful tulip balloon for our Founder, Melissa! Thank you to Newton Face Painting for your beautiful artwork that made our kid’s faces and arms sparkle! Thank you to Malik the Magician for making us smile and laugh with your magic!
* An extra special THANK YOU to the Gross Family Foundation, Blue Chip Foundation and to the Omnium Foundation thanks to the Wilwerding and Cohen Family! Your support to our Ear Community Organization means the world to us and to the microtia and atresia community! Thank you so much to our donors and contributors who help give back to our Ear Community, supporting our mission and the work we do for our community! Your support is appreciated more than you know!
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- Dr. Ron Eavey, Dr. Sheila Desmond, Dr. Syed Kamil and his wife,Sandra Kamil, with Melissa and Ally Tumblin and the Furze Family at the 2026 Boston Ear Community microtia and atresia picnic.
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- The 2026 Boston Ear Community microtia and atresia picnic
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- The 2026 Boston Ear Community picnic host family: The Furze Family (Pat, Kim, Lena and Bennett
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- Oticon Medical, Platinum Sponsor 2026
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- Kaylee Dougherty of Boston Ocular educating on prosthetic ears
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- Dr. Ron Eavey with the Tumblin and Wilwerding Cohen Family at the 2026 Boston Ear Community event
San Diego, California (USA)
June 13th, 2026
Thank you so much to all who attended our 2026 San Diego Ear Community Microtia and Atresia picnic on Saturday, June 13th!
A special thank you to our picnic host family – The Smyth Family (Alex, Jason and Sayer! Sayer and his family hosted an absolutely beautiful day for all of us! I love how Sayer is also supported by both sets of his Grandparents (Steve and Holly Gill and Beth and Bill Smyth)! Sayer and his family do not live in San Diego, but travelled to stay with family so they could host our special day in this area this year! In fact, Sayer’s family has traveled to multiple Ear Community picnics so Sayer can see his microtia and atresia friends each year! The Smyth Family makes it a point to find an Ear Community picnic nearby even if it is in a different state! Sayer’s Grandma, Beth, also helped pick up our food and get lots of items for our picnic to help Sayer’s family out so they could enjoy their vacation in San Diego! From booking our park to getting all of our food and speaking with families, welcoming them and sharing their journey with all of us – THANK YOU for being our 2026 California Ear Community picnic host family! Ally and I love you guys!
I hope everyone enjoyed learning all about the benefits of being aided with a bone anchored hearing system!
* An extra special THANK YOU to the William, Jeff and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation, Blue Chip Foundation! Your support to the Ear Community Organization helping us continue the good work we do to help give back to the microtia and atresia community means the world to Ear Community! Thank you so much to our donors and contributors to our Ear Community – your support is appreciated and needed more than you know!
Thank you to Drs. Daniela Carvalho, Jason Qian, Ethan Frank, Alexis Bulcao and Catherine Moyer for joining us from Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego at our picnic! Thank you to Dr. Sheryl Lewin and Larissa Liverance for also joining us! What a surprise! We are so happy our families were able to mingle with all of you to get some answers to the questions they are looking for!
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- The 2026 San Diego, CA Ear Community picnic host family – The Smyth Family (Alex, Jason, Sayer, Holly, Steve, Beth and Bill).
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- Alex, Jason and Sayer Smyth, our San Diego Ear Community picnic host family
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- Rady Children’s Hospital at a San Diego Ear Community microtia and atresia picnic (Drs. Daniela Carvalho, Jason Qian, Ethan Frank with Melissa Tumblin of Ear Community and Alex and Jason Smyth)
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- Melissa Tumblin of the Ear Community Organization with Dr. Sheryl Lewin and Larissa Liverance.
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- Drs. Daniela Caralho and Jason Qian of Rady Children’s Hospital with Melissa Tumblin of the Ear Community Organization (2026)
Jeffersonville, Indiana (USA)
June 27th, 2026
Thank you so much to everyone who attended our 2026 Jeffersonville, IN Ear Community Microtia and Atresia picnic on Saturday! Despite the rain, it was a perfect day and the sun did come out! Our park location was the prettiest park we have held an Ear Community picnic at so far! The Perrin Family Park is a natural park preserve that was a pleasant surprise with it’s beauty for everyone to see from acres of trees, to flowers everywhere and ponds with geese and red cardinals!
We had families come from all over the Kentucky area, including from Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Colorado and Nebraska! Thank you for being with us! We had a number of teens join who were all about the same age with microtia and atresia, which was wonderful, including one family that has microtia and atresia consistently in their family!
A special thank you to our picnic host family – The McClellan Family (Melissa, Jamie, Hannah and Jamison)! Jamison and his family hosted an absolutely beautiful day for all of us! The McClellan Family not only has hosted multiple Ear Community picnics over the years, but they have traveled to many picnics in other states so Jamison can see his microtia and atresia friends! Thank you to Jamie, Jamison’s dad, for finding us this beautiful park! Thank you so much to the McClellan Family for booking our park, getting all of our food and speaking with families, welcoming them and sharing your journey with all of us – THANK YOU! Our organization’s events mean so much to the McClellan Family and to so many of the families in our community who attended! Many who attended this past weekend’s picnic hadn’t met someone else just like them, while for others it was a little reunion getting the chance to see each other again and to see how everyone is growing up! Thank you again to Melissa, Jamie, Hannah and Jamison for being our 2026 Indiana Ear Community picnic host family and to Melissa for being an amazing Ear Community Board Member over the years! Ally and I love you guys!
I hope everyone enjoyed learning all about the benefits of being aided with a bone anchored hearing system!
* An extra special THANK YOU to the Gross Family Foundation, Blue Chip Foundation and the Omnium Foundation! Your support to the Ear Community Organization and the good work we do to help give back to the microtia and atresia community means the world to Ear Community! Thank you so much to our donors and contributors to our Ear Community – your support is appreciated and needed more than you know!
Thank you so much to James Hermsen of Suh-Hermsen Adaptive Eyewear Solutions for educating us on microtia eyewear for kids (and adults). Melissa with Ear Community shared her prosthetic ear kit with everyone! Thank you to Vanessa Reasoner of Dynamic Face Paint for making our day extra special and so fun for our families with her beautiful face art! Thank you to Terry Kelley – The Balloon Man, for making our day special with incredible balloon art and to our awesome magician, Jim Harris – Uncle Red Magic for making us laugh and experience some mysterious magic!
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- Our Indiana Ear Community picnic host family – The McClellan Family (Melissa, Jamison, Jamie and Hannah) with Melissa Tumblin of Ear Community
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- The McClellan Family
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- Jamison – before and after
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- MED-EL USA, Proud Platinum Sponsor of Ear Community microtia and atresia picnics for 2026
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- Oticon Medical, Proud Platinum Sponsor of Ear Community microtia and atresia picnics for 2026.
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- James Hermsen of Suh-Hermsen Adaptive Eyewear Solutions. Offers glasses for microtia kids under Ear Community’s Pax’s Eyewear Fund, thanks to the Gross Family Foundation.
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- Melissa McClellan and Melissa Tumblin, Ear Community Indiana microtia and atresia picnic, June 2026
San Antonio, Texas (USA)
July 11th, 2026
Thank you so much for being a part of our special day last weekend! Even a torrential downpour couldn’t keep our community from coming together! We are grateful for all of the families who joined us! Thank you also to the children who joined who were just a few days post-op from having ear reconstruction! Amazing!!! We had families join from all over Texas, including from Georgia, Nebraska, Colorado and Japan!
We saw lots of familiar faces and lots of new families on Saturday! Thank you to the Quesada Family (Anna, Steven, Zoey, Kate and Eloise) for hosting and making our special day possible! Anna and Steven found Ear Community when Zoey was a baby. I have had the privilege of watching Zoey grow into a beautiful young lady since she was little! Anna Quesada and Steven have become such amazing advocates for our community along with Zoey! Zoey is an Ear Community hearing device recipient who finally maked the decision to be implanted with the Sentio System by Oticon Medical and to also have her outer ear reconstructed. Anna shared a beautiful thank you speech with all of us on how our kids will be okay and they will be able to thrive in so many ways! The Quesada family is like family to me! I’m so happy your family found our Ear Community!
Dr. Arturo Bonilla joined us! Dr. B has been coming to our Ear Community picnics since our very first one in 2011! He is an amazing person and incredibly skilled microtia repair surgeon and ENT who is like a big brother to me! Our beautiful community member, Janine Rivera, shared her story about making the decision to get a prosthetic ear, which has changed her life! She now wears her hair up everyday! Thank you to Janine for also helping advocate for Ally’s Act and for creating our Ally’s Act t-shirts we wore at our picnic on Saturday!
We discussed how important Ally’s Act, H.R. 4606/S. 3400 is to our community and why we need everyone’s help asking their Congressmen and Senators to pass this bill and to help get us a hearing! For more information on how to advocate for Ally’s Act, please visit the following link on Ear Community’s website: https://earcommunity.org/about/allys-act-h-r-5485/
Ear Community’s new Program Director, Lauren Hoyal, joined us! Lauren has hosted Ear Community picnics before and her son, Paxton, has microtia and atresia. We are lucky to have her!
Thank you to our amazing Sponsors!
Platinum Sponsors
– MED-EL USA (ADHEAR and BONEBRIDGE System)
– Oticon Medical (Ponto and Sentio)
I hope everyone enjoyed learning all about the benefits of being aided with a bone anchored hearing system!
* An extra special THANK YOU to the Gross Family Foundation, Blue Chip Foundation and the Omnium Foundation! Your support to the Ear Community Organization and the good work we do to help give back to the microtia and atresia community means the world to Ear Community! Thank you so much to our donors and contributors to our Ear Community – your support is appreciated and needed more than you know!
Thank you so much to James Hermsen of Suh-Hermsen Adaptive Eyewear Solutions for educating us on microtia eyewear for kids (and adults). Melissa with Ear Community shared her prosthetic ear kit with everyone! Thank you to our entertainers for making our day fun and extra special!
It was a wonderful day!
Ear Community
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- The Quesada Family (Anna, Steven, Zoey, Kate and Eloise) with Melissa Tumblin and Lauren Hoyal of Ear Community.
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- The Quesada Family, our San Antonio, TX Ear Community picnic host family (2026)
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- MED-EL USA, Proud Platinum Sponsor of Ear Community microtia and atresia picnics for 2026
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- Oticon Medical, Proud Platinum Sponsor of Ear Community microtia and atresia picnics for 2026
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- James Hermsen of Suh-Hermsen Adaptive Eyewear Solutions. Offers glasses for microtia kids under Ear Community’s Pax’s Eyewear Fund, thanks to the Gross Family Foundation.
Broomfield, Colorado USA
July 25th, 2026
Thank you to everyone who attended our special community day last Saturday at our Colorado Ear Community picnic! Even an incredibly hot day of 101 degrees couldn’t keep our community from coming together! We had close to 175 people attend with families coming from all over Colorado, including Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, the Philippines and Japan! This was our 10th picnic we have hosted here in Colorado as home to our Ear Community Organization and it was an amazing day!
We were overjoyed to see so many familiar faces and also meeting so many new families on Saturday! A special thank you to our beautiful picnic host family – The Parcher Family (Tiffany, Daniel, Lucy, Courtney and Jenna)! Tiffany and Lucy hosted a beautiful day with their family for all of us! Tiffany shared her family’s journey with Lucy, who was born with bilateral microtia and atresia – from adoption to Lucy excelling in school today and her love of music. Tiffany’s reminder to all of us was that our children can do anything! Tiffany made a beautiful speech that included tips for Deaf and Hard of Hearing services, finding a great support system in school for our kids along with how to navigate your way with helpful services! A special thank you to Lucy for shopping for and putting together all of the goody bags for everyone too! Tiffany and Lucy have become incredible advocates in our community over the years! In fact, Tiffany has become one of Ear Community’s biggest advocates as our organization’s attorney! ❤️ I am grateful for all of the help that Tiffany and Lucy and their family is providing for our community and to our Ear Community! Tiffany and Lucy, your family is like family to me and I am grateful for YOU! Love you guys! ❤️👂
What an incredible honor it was to have Congressman Joe Neguse and Max Cocker join us on our special day! Congressman Neguse took the time to be with us and share about when he met Ally Tumblin seven years ago, and after hearing her story, how he wanted to help her advocate to help our community hear better when it comes to hearing devices being denied by insurance. Rep Neguse explained how he wanted to honor Ally and all of the children just like her with Ally’s Act – a Federal piece of legislation that would help close the loophole for private insurers to deny coverage for bone anchored hearing devices and cochlear implants. It was amazing to have Congressman Neguse with us! Thank you so much for speaking with our families! We appreciate you sharing an update on Ally’s Act, H.R. 4606/S. 3400 and sharing why this bill matters! I know so many at our picnic enjoyed getting the chance to meet you, Congressman Neguse! Thank you so much for making our day extra special! As the family behind Ally’s Act (The Tumblin Family), Melissa also shared with everyone on how to best advocate for Ally’s Act, by asking everyone to call and write to their Congressmen and Senators, asking them to pass Ally’s Act, H.R. 4606 and S. 3400! For more information on how to advocate for Ally’s Act, please visit the following link on Ear Community’s website at: https://earcommunity.org/about/allys-act-h-r-5485/.
Thank you to our amazing Sponsors!
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We had Robert Gulock, the President of Oticon Medical, join us along with Dina Panopoulos (who has been to lots of Ear Community picnics over the years)! We also had Brian Dedeian join from MED-EL (who is a repeat Ear Community attendee and BONEBRIDGE user) and Virgi Mills (who is an amazing Teacher of the D/HH)! We also had Josie Cross join us from Poriferous, educating on Su-Por ear frameworks for outer ear reconstruction! We had James Hermsen of Suh Hermsen Adaptive Eyewear Solutions, along with his sister, Michelle, educating us on microtia eyewear for kids (and adults). Thanks to Pax’s Eyewear Fund and the Gross Family, James was able to give away these glasses for FREE at our picnic! We also had Sara Moslehi of Art in Soul Prosthetics educate us on prosthetic ears!
Thank you to Jeremy Martin of Eldorado Springs Water for donating water for our event to make sure we stayed hydrated on such a hot day! Having Eldorado Springs water at our Ear Community picnics in Colorado have been a blessing over the past 10 years! Thank you so much for your donation to our organization, Jeremy and Eldorado Springs Water!!! Thank you also to Kona Ice for helping keep us cool during our event!
📷 Thank you to our photographers Kamen Guentchev & Charlie Spudinsky for capturing our memories! ❤️
Thank you so much to Olivia and Isaiah MacLean of Fantastic-Facepainting – for making our day extra special with beautiful face art and fun balloon art! *** Thank you to Dr. Sheryl Lewin for sponsoring Fantastic-Facepainting for our picnic as a way to help give back during our Ear Community picnic! Thank you so much to Magic Rob, our incredible magician, for making us laugh with your amazing and funny magic! Both the MacLean Family behind Fantastic-Facepainting and Magic Rob have been a part of our Ear Community picnics for 10 years! Ear Community loves you guys! Thank you for always making our special day extra special!
Our story will also be published on our Ear Community website soon under our 2026 EVENTS page! Thank you again for such a memorable and wonderful day spent together with our community!
Have a wonderful rest of your summer and if you like what Ear Community does and enjoy supporting the work of nonprofit organizations, please think of Ear Community if you like to help give back by making a donation to our organization at: www.EarCommunity.org/donate
Thank you again for a wonderful day in Colorado with our families! We look forward to seeing everyone next summer in Florida, Tennessee, Minnesota, South Carolina, New Jersey and Ontario, Canada!
– Melissa Tumblin
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- The Parcher Family, the Tumblin Family and Congressman Joe Neguse at the Colorado Ear Community picnic, July 25th, 2026
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- The Parcher Family (Tiffany, Daniel, Lucy, Courtney and Jenna), our 2026 Colorado Ear Community picnic host family.
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- The Parcher Family
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- Tiffany Parcher sharing her family’s journey with Lucy at the Ear Community picnic in Colorado.
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- Ear Community Colorado microtia and atresia picnic with Congressman Joe Neguse – our community hold up signs that say We Want Ally’s Act To Pass!
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- Ear Community’s work to help children with microtia and aural atresia – We wouldn’t change you for the world, but we would change the world for you! Pictured: Ally Tumblin
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- Tiffany Parcher speaking about her daughter, Lucy, and how she is thriving and that all kids with microtia and atresia can thrive!
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- Melissa, Hailey and Ally Tumblin with Congressman Joe Neguse
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- MED-EL USA, a proud Platinum Sponsor of Ear Community
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- MED-EL, a proud Platinum Sponsor of Ear Community
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- Oticon Medical, a proud Platinum Sponsor of Ear Community
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- Robert Gulock, President of Oticon Medical, at an Ear Community microtia and atresia picnic in Colorado.
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- Michelle with SuhHermsen microtia eyewear at the Colorado Ear Community picnic. Thanks to Pax’s Eyewear Fund by the Gross Family for these glasses!
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- James Hermsen with SuhHermsen microtia eyewear at the Colorado Ear Community picnic. Thanks to Pax’s Eyewear Fund by the Gross Family for these glasses!
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- Poriferous with Su-Por ear frameworks at the Colorado Ear Community microtia picnic
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- Congressman Joe Neguse with the Tumblin Family (Hailey, Melissa and Ally) at the Ear Community Colorado event.
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- Sara Moslehi with Art In Soul Prosthetics at an Ear Community microtia and atresia picnic in Colorado, July 25th, 2026.
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- Dr. Sheryl Lewin with Melissa Tumblin of the Ear Community Organization and Tiffany Wilke.
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- Olivia with Fantastic-Facepainting. 10 years of being a part of Ear Community picnics in Colorado!
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- Isaiah of Fantastic-Facepainting. 10 years of being a part of Ear Community picnics in Colorado!
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- Magic Rob! 10 years of being a part of Ear Community picnics in Colorado!
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- Melissa Tumblin of the Ear Community Organization with Congressman Joe Neguse at the Colorado microtia and atresia event in July of 2026
