Club hosts deaf-hearing harvest party

MOSES LAKE — Deaf and hearing impaired Columbia Basin residents came together at a Deaf-Hearing Harvest Party to meet people and learn about available resources.

About 30 people attended the event thrown by the Columbia Basin Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Club members. This is the second year co-chairs Lisa Hanley and Lorie Lybbert have hosted the event.

“Our goal for the harvest party is to introduce people in the community that are deaf or hard of hearing to each other,” Hanley said. “It can be hard for people in that situation to meet others and this gives them an opportunity to form a friendship with others going through a similar situation.”

A representative from the Eastern Washington Center for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing presented new technology created for deaf and hearing impaired individuals.

“She introduced people to the technology they can receive to make their lives a little easier, explained how they can apply to get it and what it may cost,” Hanley said. “One thing she discussed was a new phone you can buy that displays what a person is saying on text as they talk, which is an ideal item for someone who can speak well but can’t hear.”

Hanley and Lybbert took the time to introduce youth to adults at the event.

“The harvest party is a great opportunity for people to come together to communicate and fellowship,” Hanley said. “Young deaf people were able to meet deaf adults who have gone through similar issues as they have and are successful.”

Hanley can help communicate because she is fluent in sign language and received a masters degree in deaf education. She was also a hearing impaired teacher a few years ago.

Residents came from Othello, Ephrata, Wilson Creek and other places in Grant  County to attend.

“It was a lovely event, it went great,” Hanley said. “We had an elderly woman who has been deaf all her life, drive all the way from her nursing home to meet with us. She brought her grandsons to hang out with her.”

The club meets three times a year to do functions. It was started by Hanley and Lybbert after their friend Carol Ling passed away in 2007.

“Carol was a cashier at Safeway who was deaf and she was the first person you’d meet if you came into town and went to the store,” Hanley said. “She was the kind of person that everyone loved; they would all end up in her line at the cashier counter because they wanted to talk to her.”

Ling taught sign language to anyone in town expressing interest. The two women wanted to keep the tradition alive and honor her memory by forming the group.

“This population of people can be easy to lose and we want to remind everyone to get back together,” Hanley said.

The group is composed of deaf or hearing impaired students and adults. They are planning a bowling or dinner out event in March.

To join, call Lisa Hanley at 509-771-9463.