2019 Picnics and Events

2019 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 Fullerton, California/ South Bend, Indiana/ Boston, Massachusetts/ Broomfield, Colorado/ Nashville, Tennessee/ West Orange, New Jersey/ and Hamilton, Ontario – 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 and medical device companies all come together to mingle with us at our picnics, helping educate us on all of our options including hearing loss.

We look forward to seeing you at our Ear Community picnics this year!

Melissa Tumblin,
Founder and Executive Director of Ear Community
Founder of the Microtia and Atresia Support Group on Facebook

2019 Ear Community Picnics and Events

US Congress Meeting w/Ear Community Families
NIDCR/AADR Awareness Day on Capital Hill
Washington, DC
Date:  February 26th, 2019

EHDI (Early Hearing Detection Intervention) meeting
Chicago, Ilinois
Date:  March 2nd -5th, 2019
Time:  7:30AM – 5PM
Please visit Ear Community at Booth #9!
*  For more information about the EHDI conference, click here.  Parents can register to attend this meeting!  Please register
through the EHDI website or call for more information on how to register.

California Ear Community Picnic
Fullerton, California
Date:  Saturday, June 15th, 2019
Time:  11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Heidi at:  EarCommunityCaliforniaPicnic@gmail.com

Indiana Ear Community Picnic
South Bend, Indiana
Date:  Saturday, June 29th, 2019
Time:  11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Heidi at:  EarCommunityIndianaPicnic@gmail.com

Massachusetts Ear Community Picnic
Boston, Massachusetts
Date:  Saturday, June 29th, 2019 
Time:  11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Heidi at:  EarCommunityMassPicnic@gmail.com

Meeting with our Harvard researchers Drs. Jon and Christine Seidman
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts
Date:  Wednesday, June 26th, 2019

Meeting with Congressman David McKinley in DC
for mandating hearing device insurance coverage
Date:  Wednesday, July 10th, 2019
Ear Community Board member, Rachel Songy

Colorado Headquarter Ear Community Picnic
Broomfield, Colorado
Date:  Saturday, July 13th, 2019
Time:  11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Melissa at:  ColoradoMicrotia@hotmail.com

Tennessee Ear Community Picnic
Nashville, Tennessee
Date:  Saturday, July 20th, 2019
Time:  1PM to 5PM
RSVP to Melissa at:  TennesseeEarCommunityPicnic@gmail.com
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*  This Ear Community picnic will be in collaboration with a FREE surgeon 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 and Atresia and again…it is FREE to Microtia and Atresia families.  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.
Our collaborative event will begin at 8:30AM – 5:00PM with educational presentations by:

– Ron Eavey MD SM Director, Professor and Chair for Research and Causes of Congenital Ear Malformation, Vanderbilt
– Scott Stephan MD Facial Plastic Reconstructive Surgery Medpor and Rib Graft, Vanderbilt
– Alejandro Rivas MD Neuro-otology Hearing Restoration in Aural Atresia, Vanderbilt
– Margaret McRedmond and Brandy Stephens, Au.D. CCC-A Audiology, Vanderbilt
– Scott Fiscus B.C.O.,  Anaplastology Ear Prosthesis, Nashville, TN
– Parent Panel
*  A delicious BBQ lunch will be provided as we kick off our Ear Community picnic along with a face painter, balloon artist, and magician.  We look forward to seeing everyone at our event.  A special thank you to Vanderbilt Medical Center and Dr. Ron Eavey for making this event possible with Ear Community.  Please join us for an amazing day!

To learn more about the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Microtia and Atresia Clinic, click here.
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New Jersey Ear Community Picnic
West Orange, New Jersey
Date:  Saturday, August 3rd, 2019
Time:  11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Heidi at:  EarCommunityNewJerseyPicnic@gmail.com

Ontario Ear Community Picnic
Hamilton, Ontario – Canada
Date:  Saturday – August 17th, 2019
Time:  11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Cindy at:  EarCommunity@gmail.com

Rachel Songy and Melissa Tumblin of Ear Community

Ear Community Advocates for BAHA and CI Hearing Device Insurance Coverage
Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
Date: September 19th and 20th, 2019
Melissa Tumblin and Rachel Songy, both of the Ear Community Organization, met with:
Congressman Joe Neguse (D-CO)
Congressman David McKinley (R-WV)
Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA)

Stanford Medicine X Change Conference
Presented by Liz Presson – Spotlighting Ear Community
“The Power of Female Patient Advocates: Voices of women who are being heard and evolving healthcare on their own terms”
Date:  Saturday, September 21st, 2019
Time:  2:05pm to 2:25pm
Liz Presson, Founder and Chief Strategist of Pursuit shares how advocates such as Melissa Tumblin are evolving healthcare with their advocacy and community organizations like Ear Community.
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November 9th, 2019 is National Microtia Awareness Day!  Raise awareness with us throughout the United States and across the world for all who wish to embrace our awareness day with us!

To hear all about our amazing first National Microtia Awareness Day, please click here…
Click here for an interview with AudiologyOnline about National Microtia Awareness Day…
Click here for our radio commercial for raising awareness about Microtia and Atresia…
Coming soon….click (here) anytime during the year to order official National Microtia Awareness t-shirts…
National Microtia Awareness Day is an amazing day of awareness and one that is special to so many of us!

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Fullerton, California (USA)
June 15th, 2019

We had an amazing day at our California Ear Community picnic on Saturday, June 15th! Nearly 300 people RSVP’d making this our largest Ear Community picnic to date! Our two amazing picnic host families were the Bayan Family and the Orozco Family. They did an absolutely amazing job organizing our picnic! From fresh cut flowers and table cloths to home made center pieces in the middle of the tables. Everything was wonderful and the weather also was fantastic. These two families have not only become close friends over the years after meeting through the Ear Community Organization when their sons (Sean and Alex) were babies, but they have also become close friends with the Ear Community Founder, Melissa Tumblin. Christine and DJ Bayan co-hosted our picnic along with their two beautiful children Ava and Sean (who was born with right sided Microtia and Atresia who has been aided with the Oticon Medical Ponto since 3 months of age). Kassandra and Alex Orozco, Sr. co-hosted our picnic along with their three beautiful children, Alyssa, Brianna, and Alex Jr. (who was born with Microtia and Atresia of his right ear who has been aided with the Oticon Medical Ponto also since 3 months of age).

Raising awareness and helping other Microtia and Atresia families along with helping support the Ear Community Organization means a lot to both of these families! Each summer, both families enjoy participating in the Long Beach HLAA Walk4Hearing walk where they support both the HLAA (for D/HoH families) and Ear Community (for Microtia and Atresia families). Each summer, these families participate in the walk by promoting awareness for loved ones who are D/HoH along with a team of families (Team Cutie Pies) that has now grown to nearly 200 members over the past 4 years. One of the many great friends that the Bayan and Orozco families have made is with an amazing Teacher of the Deaf in Orange County named Elizabeth Desloge who is a driving force behind organizing and managing Team Cutie Pies. These same families also embrace and raise awareness on our National Microtia Awareness Day which takes place each year on November 9th for Microtia and Atresia families. Ear Community is about bringing families together within their community, giving them the opportunity to share experiences, be informed of their options and develop friendships along with their children and members within the community including teachers, therapists, medical professionals and more. Everyone enjoyed the day and was able to take away some amazing memories from our special day that was spent together.

Thank you to Dr. Tahiri for joining us and helping answer questions that Microtia and Atresia families had during our picnic about Medpor outer ear reconstruction. We had many families join us who have been to Ear Community picnics over the years making it wonderful to see so many repeat Microtia and Atresia friends and families! A special thank you to Dr. Luquetti, Dr. Johns and the CAUSE TEAM for joining us at our picnic from the University of Washington/Children’s Hospital Seattle and Children’s Hospital LA. The Cause Team gave Microtia and Atresia families attending our picnic the opportunity to participate in some of the genetic research they are working on. It was also great seeing so many families wearing our National Microtia Awareness Day t-shirts too and supporting our cause and organization. Thank you! It was a beautiful day and everyone had a wonderful time sharing experiences, learning about their options, and watching the kids play together!

Boston, Massachusetts (USA)
June 29th, 2019

Melissa Tumblin of the Ear Community Organization, along with her daughters, Hailey and Ally, and the Sclafani Family (Samantha, Wyatt and Tatum, honored Dr. Jon Seidman, Barbara McDonough and Angela Tai of Harvard Medical School with an award recognizing their research on Microtia and Aural Atresia over the past two decades.

Ear Community hosted our first Microtia and Atresia picnic in Boston, Massachusetts at East Boston Piers Park on Saturday, June 29th, 2019. What a beautiful day it was! We had nearly 130 people come together to share experiences about Microtia and Atresia and learn about all of their options. A special thank you to Samantha and Wyatt Sclafani and their family, for being our picnic hosts. Wyatt is 12 years old and has Microtia and Atresia of the Right ear. A special thank you to Ulrike (Uli) Klein for
helping with some of the behind-the-scenes planning for our picnic as well. They all did an incredible job hosting this year’s Boston picnic!

It is so wonderful to attend our Ear Community picnics because families are given the opportunity to speak with picnic hosts and see what decisions they have made along their journey with Microtia and Atresia. The Sclafani family has been such a wonderful support and resource to other families because Wyatt has grown up into such a great young man. He is able to explain what it is like living with Microtia and Atresia and help others to know they aren’t alone.

The kids had so much fun getting their faces painted and getting fun balloon animals. We also had a great magician, Pat, who entertained everyone with a wonderful magic show! A delicious lunch was provided through Costco and families had a great time getting to connect with one another.

Ear Community picnics offer a chance for families to talk to one another about experiences they are dealing with, to know they aren’t alone, and to see other children with little or missing ears. The picnics are a chance to celebrate the community we have, and to learn from top medical professionals who specialize in options for Microtia and Atresia. We were also fortunate to have Cochlear Americas there to educate about their Baha 5 device and SoundArc, and Oticon Medical sharing about their Ponto 3 and Ponto 4 hearing devices. Families also were able to learn about the different options for other Microtia and Atresia options through Stryker CMF (Medpor) and Med-El (Adhear processor). It was a very fun and informative day!

We had medical professionals mingling from Mass Eye and Ear to help answer questions. We were also joined by Barbara McDonough and Angela Tai, our genetic researchers from Harvard University Medical School, (who are helping us conduct research on Microtia and Atresia on the grant that Ear Community is on)! Thank you to everyone who has signed up to participate in our genetic research so that we may find more answers to our questions about why Microtia and Aural Atresia happen. A special thank you to Ellen and Richard and their families for speaking with other Microtia and Atresia families about your journey and experience growing up with Microtia and Atresia as adults.

Thank you to our amazing sponsors for making our special picnic day possible! Thank you to our Platinum sponsors Cochlear Americas and Oticon Medical, and Silver sponsors Med-El (Adhear) and Stryker CMF (Medpor)! Thank you to James Hermsen of Spokiz eye glasses for donating eye glasses to kids without ears and for having information at our picnic. Thank you to the medical professionals who were able to be with us on our special day and help everyone learn about the facts.

One of the highlights of the day was that Melissa Tumblin, Ear Community’s founder, and her family were able to attend the picnic and mingle with families. Ear Community was created because Melissa’s daughter, Ally, was born with Right Microtia and Atresia and medical professionals kept telling Melissa that one ear was “good enough” – Melissa knew that there had to be something better out there and has spent the past 9 years educating families about Microtia and Atresia through the Ear Community
website, various support groups on Facebook, going to Washington D.C. to advocate, presenting to the FDA, creating online courses, endless e-mails and phone calls with families almost every day. She has operated Ear Community in her “spare” time, all from a desk in her kitchen. The love and passion she has poured into Ear Community could never be measured and families were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet her face-to-face. Both the Sclafani Family and Uli Klein have become close friends to the Tumblin Family, Founders of Ear Community. While the Tumblin Family was in Boston, they had the opportunity to honor both Drs. Jon and Christine Seidman of Harvard Medical School with an award thanking them for the research they have both conducted on Microtia and Atresia for the past two decades. Drs. Seidman are helping work on the whole genome sequencing grant research grant that the Ear Community Organization is on and we are looking forward to finding out the results soon!

It means so much for these families to come together and meet where they can share experiences and make a friend who is in the same situation. Community creates much needed support help to Microtia and Atresia families all over the world. Thank you to everyone who was a part of our special day! Thank you again to Uli and the Sclafani family for hosting our 2019 Boston Ear Community picnic!

South Bend, Indiana (USA)
June 29th, 2019

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon on June 29th, 2019 in Potawatomi Park in South Bend, Indiana, Ear Community hosted its Microtia and Atresia picnic for families. We had families join us from surrounding states – creating a group of almost 130 people! Kids enjoyed making friends all day with one another.

Our picnic hosts for our South Bend picnic were the Shemanski family (Melissa (Board member for Ear Community), Richard, Sophia, Noah and Joel) and the Gomez family (Sandy, Antonio, Elias, Sofia, Nehemiah, Morayah, Enoch, Noach, and Santiago). Melissa and Sandy found each other about one and a half years ago. Both of their daughters have the same name (Sophia and Sofia) and were born with Microtia and Atresia. Both of their daughters are also relatively close in age (10 and 6) and have become friends. Sophia has worn a Cochlear Baha 5 in the past, and also wears a prosthetic ear. Sofia has Right sided Hemifacial Microsomia with Right sided Microtia and is looking into getting a bone conduction processor. Both girls had a great time meeting other kids who had little ears like them and enjoying the day. It is nice to know that the kids who attended our picnic not only enjoyed our fun day, but they also made lots of other friends with little ears. Sandy’s daughter, Sofia, hadn’t really met anyone else like her except for meeting Melissa’s daughter, Sophia, recently.

Families who attended our picnics learned about all of their options for Microtia and Atresia including being given the opportunity to try on the latest in bone conduction hearing devices thanks to our amazing Platinum sponsors Cochlear Americas and Oticon Medical! Thank you to the Cochlear Americas team for helping these families learn more about hearing loss and how the Baha 5 and SoundArc can help them hear better! Thank you to the team from Oticon Medical for helping families learn about the
Ponto 3 and Ponto 4 hearing devices. Thank you to our Silver sponsors Stryker CMF (Medpor) and to Med-El (Adhear) for educating families about the options available for Microtia and Atresia.

A special thank you to Dr. David Zopf and his family for joining us. Dr. Zopf is a Microtia repair surgeon from the University of Michigan Medical Center. Dr. Zopf is also working on genetic research for Microtia and Atresia in regards to 3D printing and stem cell regeneration. He updated our families at our picnic on how his research is going by giving a brief presentation to help inform families. A special thank you to Julie Brown with Medical Art Resources also came to our picnic to help educate about the prosthetic ear option. Children enjoyed a fun craft with the silicone material prosthetic ears are made of and Julie was able to make learning about prosthetic ears fun for everyone! We had such a special day with balloon twisting, face painting and a fabulous magic show – thank you to our entertainers who made it such a fun and special day! We had a delicious lunch from Costco, and families had a great time mingling and connecting.

A very special thanks goes to Melissa Shemanski, her wonderful family and Sandy Gomez along with her family for hosting our picnic and for making sure our amazing day went off without a hitch with all of the fun and food and love that was needed to make our picnic happen! Melissa Shemanski and her family have become close friends to Melissa Tumblin, the Founder of Ear Community. This past March in Chicago, Melissa Shemanski helped represent our Ear Community Organization at the 2019 EHDI Meeting and helped educate on all options about Microtia and Atresia to parents and medical professionals. Thank you to everyone who attended our picnic and for supporting our Ear Community Organization!

Broomfield, CO (USA)
July 13th, 2019

Our 6th (every other year) Colorado Ear Community Microtia and Atresia Picnic took place in Broomfield, CO on a beautiful, sunny day on Saturday, July 14th this year. We had nearly 250 people attend this year’s picnic! Families commented on how beautiful the view was of the Boulder Flatirons and foothills on the drive to our beautiful park location in Broomfield.  Our head quarter picnic was hosted by Audra, Illiana, and Lorenzo Sr. Molina and Melissa, Brent, Hailey, and Alyssa Tumblin.  This was the third year that the Molina family helped the Tumblin family co-host our picnic.  The Molina’s daughter, Illiana, was able to meet Dr. Sheryl Lewin at our Ear Community picnic held four years ago and since then, Illiana has two beautiful Medpor ears and was the first child aided in the state of Colorado with the Cochlear Baha 5 Attract hearing device.  The Molina’s have come a long way since discovering Ear Community and the help that the organization can provide.  Illiana has also attended the same school with Ally in the past years before moving onto middle school and the two girls have since then become close friends with each other. Scott Newcomb (Ear Community Board of Director members) and his family  joined us at our picnic in Colorado.  We also had some Ear Community hearing device recipients join us at our picnic.  This picnic has brought together more families who have become friends, including the friendship that has developed between the Molina and Tumblin families.

We had nearly 250 people RSVP for our special day.  We had families join us from Colorado, Utah, California, Arizona, Florida, Wyoming, North Dakota, and New Mexico. We had the opportunity for Children’s Hospital Seattle to join us and give our families the chance to participate in a genetic test that we hope to find some answers about Microtia and Atresia. Thank you to Dr. Carrie Heike (craniofacial pediatrician), Albert Hsu and Laura Stueckle for joining us from the CAUSE TEAM to help our families at our picnic learn more about Microtia and Atresia and also cranifacial microsomia. The kids hula hooped, played catch with Nerf footballs, and enjoyed getting their faces painted and sported some amazing balloon art!  Magic Rob put on a great magic show for the kids and the kids got to pet the magic bunny too!   Magic Rob has been our magician for the past few years and he also has hearing loss. So, he is the perfect magician for us!  Everyone enjoyed a delicious lunch that we ordered through Costco (Thornton store).

We had some special moments take place at our picnic in Colorado this year.  Our organization honored James Hermsen of Adaptive Eyewear Solutions (formerly Spokiz) with an award for helping fit children who have Microtia and Atresia with the eyeglasses that he makes for FREE! James has been a part of our Ear Community picnics for the past five years, helping our children be able to wear eyeglasses that are more comfortable for them. We also had Trinity Taekwondo join us and show us some kicks, blocks and punches. Trinity Taekwondo Grand Master Bob Neidig and Sr. Master Pam Neidig (the only female in the US to have an eighth degree black belt) also helped demonstrate some helpful self-defense moves for the kids. We were also joined by Christa Bruning who recently earned her black belt. Christa was my high school class president and we have been in contact ever since graduating high school.

A very special thank you to our amazing sponsors!  Without our sponsors, we would not be able to have our amazing picnics!  Thank you to our Platinum Sponsors- Cochlear Americas and Oticon Medical and our Silver Sponsors – Stryker and Med-EL! Thank you for helping educate families on how they can help their loved ones with hearing loss through the use of a Baha 5, Ponto 3 Superpower, ADHEAR and Bonebridge and the outer ear Medpor ear implant. Thank you Oticon Medical for raffling off twelve of your amazing gift baskets that featured Massie the bear stuffed monkey who wears the Ponto! Our winners of Massie bears just loved them! We also had some eye glass samples that were given away from Adaptive Eyewear Solutions too that are made for kids without ears! Thank you to Jeremy Martin at Eldorado Springs for donating (6) five gallon bottles of natural Colorado spring water with hand pumps for all of us to enjoy at our picnic and so no one would go thirsty!    Thank you to Patrick at the Costco in Thornton, CO for donating gift cards that we used toward the purchase of juice boxes for the kids at our picnic.

As always, it is always so nice to see so many family faces that have been helped by Ear Community over the years.  Can’t wait to see everyone again soon at our next picnic.

Here are some special memories from our special day!

Nashville, TN (USA)
July 20th, 2019

Our 2019 Nashville Ear Community and Vanderbilt Microtia and Atresia picnic.

On Saturday, July 20th, the Ear Community Organization and Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Microtia and Atresia Clinic hosted their 4th Annual Microtia and Atresia picnic together with nearly 200 attendees. Everyone enjoyed a lovely picnic day at the Vanderbilt University recreation center where the kids enjoyed getting their faces painted, balloon art, a magician and outdoor fun. Brody Hurley, along with his mom, Dayla, and father Travis, including his siblings Brilee and Brooklyn, helped host our picnic (patients of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center). The Hurley family shared their experience with Brody having bilateral Microtia and Atresia and their decision to aid and implant Brody with two bone anchored hearing devices to help him hear better. The Hurley family also shared with everyone how much Ear Community means to their family and how much the organization has helped them with resources and support. The Founders of Ear Community, Melissa, Hailey, and Ally Tumblin, also joined us at this year’s Ear Community picnic in Nashville. The Ear Community Organization (including the Tumblin Family and board members Melissa McClellan and Rachel Songy) honored the Vanderbilt MAC clinic and staff with an award recognizing the clinic as an international center for excellence and for helping so many Microtia and Atresia families. Here is the link to our Ear Community picnic story. Here is the link to our Vanderbilt University Medical Center Microtia and Atresia conference.

Everyone enjoyed beautiful  music performed by Kole Shuda and Noelle Smith who were both born with Microtia and Atresia, which made everything even more special knowing that our children can go on to become anything they want to in life. Attending families were given the opportunity to try on hearing devices and learn about outer ear implants thanks to our Ear Community Sponsors:
Platinum Sponsors – Cochlear Americas (Baha 5) and Oticon Medical (Ponto 3 & 4) 
Silver Sponsors – Stryker (Medpor) and MedEL (ADHEAR and Bonebridge) and learn more about prosthetic ears and The Vanderbilt University Medical Center ENT staff (Drs. Eavey, Stephan, and Rivas, along with Dr. Stephens AuD, Scott Fiscus BCO) joined us wearing our “Vandy Microtia Kids Rock” t-shirts during our picnic portion of the event. Everyone enjoyed the day and we look forward to seeing so many of you again each year at our Vanderbilt University Medical Center Microtia and Atresia conference, clinic, and Ear Community picnic! Everyone also enjoyed a delicious picnic catered by Jim ‘N Nick’s BBQ.

Here are some fun memories from our Vanderbilt and Ear Community picnic event:

West Orange, NJ (USA)
August 3rd, 2019

On Saturday, August 3rd, over 225 people joined us at our Ear Community picnic in West Orange, NJ. Ear Community families joined us from surrounding states including NY, NJ, DE, VT, CA, CO, PA, WI, CT, VA, W. VA, IL, RI and the DC area. It was a beautiful day with many familiar faces and many more new faces! Everyone enjoyed sharing experiences, learning about their options (including hearing devices, prosthetic ears and Medpor outer ear implants) and the entertainment provided by our fun magician!

This was a special picnic because of our two host families:  the Smith Family and the Mitchell Family. Dr. John Smith and Shannon along with their children, Ava-Katuszonek-Smith, Addison, Lauren, and Hudson have been members of the Ear Community for seven years now after finding our organization after Ava was born with unilateral Microtia and Atresia. I remember meeting Shannon and Ava at our Pleasanton, California picnic years ago. Since finding Ear Community, not only have Shannon and Ava found a family within Ear Community, but they have both become amazing advocates for other Microtia and Atresia families. Shannon and Ava have also gone on to host (2) of our picnics over the years and are very interested in hosting a third Ear Community picnic in the near future! Ava is also an Ear Community bone anchored hearing device recipient (Ava received an Oticon Medical Ponto Plus after being denied coverage by their insurance provider). Shannon and Ava love Ear Community so much that they are not only amazing donors to our organization, but they helped cover the entire cost of our West Orange, NJ picnic!

I remember when Megan Mitchel and her family found our Ear Community Organization. Megan’s daughter, Allison, was just months old, born with unilateral Microtia and Atresia, and Megan discovered that there was National Microtia Awareness Day! They felt so alone until realizing that they were not alone with Microtia and Atresia and had an entire community to belong to. Megan and Allison were so thankful to discover that there was a National Microtia Awareness Day and ever since that moment, both have educated many families and relatives over the past years. By being a part of our organization and community, and having a national awareness day to relate to, Megan and Allison have been able to help educate their friends and family all about Microtia and Atresia, including help other families with information about IEP plans for school. Megan also embraces our organization because most of all, she now realizes that she did not do anything during her pregnancy to cause Allison’s Microtia and Atresia. Since finding Ear Community, Megan’s family (including Megan’s husband Logan and son Matthew) have also found a family within Ear Community. Megan and her family enjoy embracing our national awareness day every year and have also become amazing supporters and donors to our organization. The Mitchell Family also loves Ear Community so much that they helped the Smith family cover the entire cost of our New Jersey picnic that just took place.

Thank you to everyone who helped make our picnic day so special! Thank you to our Platinum Sponsors (Cochlear Americas and Oticon Medical) and to our Silver Sponsors (Stryker and MedEL)! Thank you also to Samantha North of Medical Art Prosthetics for helping educate all of us about prosthetic ears. Thank you also to Dr. Sheryl Lewin for joining us and mingling with families, helping educate them on outer ear reconstruction. Dr. Lewin also helped sponsor our face painter for our picnic. Thank you, Sheryl! This picnic was very special in so many ways! There were tears of joy and laughter, watching the kids play and carry on. The close friendship that has developed between the Mitchel and Smith Families and with the Tumblin Family and Ear Community will always be cherished. It was wonderful having four past picnic host families also join us at our picnic from other states.  We also had many other families ask about hosting a picnic where they live too! We can’t wait to host another Ear Community picnic in the New Jersey area again, soon!

Hamilton, Ontario (Canada)
August 17th, 2019

Ear Community hosted our 3rd Microtia and Atresia picnic in Hamilton, Ontario Canada on Saturday, August 3rd, 2019.  Ontario area families were able to come together to share experiences about Microtia and Atresia. Picnic attendees learned about all of their options for Microtia and Atresia (surgical techniques, prosthetic ears, reconstructive implants for the outer ear, and hearing devices. A special thank you to Cindy Stewart (Ear Community Board Member) and her son James and daughter Lily, for being our amazing picnic hosts. Cindy has been a part of Ear Community for several years now and wanted to make sure that Ontario Microtia and Atresia families were able to have our event to attend again this year and organized this year’s picnic all by herself, finding funding on her own and entertainment! Thank you, Cindy!  Cindy’s son, James, was born with Microtia and Atresia and has had rib graft surgery and is implanted with the Cochlear Americas Baha 5 Attract and is doing great! Cindy has been a great advocate for her son, James, but also for the Ontario community as Cindy is very involved with the D/HH community and school districts in her area.  Cindy is always happy to reach out to anyone who may have questions about James’ surgery and their experience on their big ear journey.

The kids enjoyed getting their faces painted and meeting all of the animals at the petting zoo.  We ordered a delicious lunch through Quiznos (thank you to Jaymie), Garth Pizza (thank you to Kinar and his sons) and Costco!  We had the opportunity for Parliament members, Monique Taylor (MPP) and Mayor Duvall (MP), to join us during our picnic on Saturday which was an honor! Cindy has been working with Monique Taylor on helping the D/HH community and within her son’s school district. We also welcomed both the Principal and Vice Principal of Chedoke school including two HWDSB trustees. The Chedoke board of education was very impressed with our event for the D/HH and Microtia and Atresia community. So many families had a great time getting to connect with one another on our special day.   This was the fifth Ear Community picnic to be hosted in Canada since 2012.

Ear Community picnics offer a chance for families to talk to one another about experiences they are dealing with, to know they aren’t alone, and to see other children with little ears.  The picnics are a chance to celebrate the community we have, and to learn from top medical professionals who specialize in options for Microtia and Atresia.

We would also like to extend special thanks to our wonderful sponsors who help to make our picnic events possible! Thank you to Cochlear Americas, Oticon Medical and Med-EL!  Our events truly could not happen without the support of our sponsors and the members of our very special Ear Community, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Our amazing sponsors helped everyone learn about their options at our picnic. A special thank you to Cochlear Americas, our Ear Community Platinum Sponsor, who helped educate everyone on the Baha 5 and Sound Arc sound processors. A special thank you to Oticon Medical, an Ear Community Platinum Sponsor, who helped educate us on the Ponto 3 Superpower sound processor system. Thank you to Med-EL, an Ear Community Silver Sponsor, for helping educate families on the newly launched ADHEAR sound processor.  At our Ear Community table, we had a lot of great information about Ear Community and Microtia and Atresia, as well as Spokiz eyeglasses samples for people to check out from James Hermsen! Cindy also had pop sockets, tumblers, t-shirts and awareness ribbon decals made for help in raising funds for Ear Community and to be made available for our National Microtia Awareness Day that is coming up on November 9th. Thank you to all of the medical professionals who attended our event and met with families.

It means so much for these families to come together and meet where they can share experiences and make a friend who is in the same situation.  Thank you to everyone who attended and made it such a special day! Thank you again to Cindy, James, and Lily for hosting our 2019 Ontario Ear Community picnic!
Thank you!