Our Story
In 2017 Hear 2 help was established with the mission to provide a hand-up in financial assistance for hearing aids and assistive technology to local children in need, because insurance rarely covers these lifetime costs. We are a group of volunteers working together toward a common vision: that every child choosing amplification, birth to 21, has access to the equipment they need to reach their full potential. Every child deserve to hear the world! Thanks to you, we can continue our mission.
Terri Steinlage
Board Member
Terri is co-founder/director/board member, guided by her faith, she helps lead the amazing Hear 2 help volunteer team. She spreads the word about the Hear 2 help organization, so that we can provide a hand up in financial assistance for children who choose hearing aids and assistive technology. She’s a mom on a mission that no child goes without, due to the lack of insurance coverage for these life long costs. She is grateful for the generosity of those who allow H2h to serve children, sharing their time, talents, and treasure. As the parent of a child who is hard-of-hearing (and who is also the inspiration for Hear 2 help), Terri has witnessed first hand the huge impact early intervention can make on the life of a child who is deaf/hard of hearing. When she is not volunteering she enjoys reading, being involved in church activities, and spending time traveling with (and to see) her family. When possible, she loves to spend time in the mountains.
Chris Steinlage
Board Member
Chris assists the other Hear 2 help board members and our team of volunteers throughout the year, planning and executing our fundraising activities. He also serves as an advisor to the executive director of the organization. His most rewarding part of Hear 2 help is the letters and emails from parents or children after they have received new hearing technology. As the parent of a daughter who was born hard-of-hearing, Chris recognizes the difference hearing aids can have on a child—something that is hard to put into words. When he’s not volunteering for Hear 2 help, he works as a strategic business advisor. At home, he enjoys outdoor activities, DIY projects, and making dad jokes that his wife and daughter tolerate. (And if you didn’t catch the same last name, his wife is our other co founder, Terri!)
Karon Martin
Board Member
Karon’s role at Hear 2 help is focusing on finding creative methods to fund the prohibitively high cost of children’s hearing aids. She found her purpose at Hear 2 help, because our mission hits close to home—her youngest daughter was born with bilateral conductive hearing loss. After years helping the local school district with hearing and vision testing, she saw the poor classroom engagement in kids who were hard-of-hearing. The dilemma became her calling to give back—to ensure that kids don’t fall behind in learning just because they can’t afford amplification devices. When she’s not working on behalf of the families we help, she’s working on behalf of her own—with three daughters in college at the same time (along with two dogs and a Type A husband), it’s a more than-full-time job in its own right.
Sarah Balderston
Board Member
As the mom of a daughter with bilateral, sensorineural hearing loss, Sarah knows the struggle of hearing costs. That’s why she believes that all children should be able to hear the world the way it should be, without their families to worry about the financial side of it. So she spends her work hours (and then some) planning and executing all of Hear 2 help’s fundraising needs. You may have seen her at speaking occasions or on TV, spreading the word about our organization and raising money for our cause. So much so that you may wonder how she has enough time to do anything else. But she does — from being a crazy-good mom to 4 energetic kids, to competing in triathlons, to going to Royals and Chiefs games. Well-deserved time spent, we’d say.
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”
– Helen Keller