Newspaper Page Text
September 26, 1984/The Maroon Tiger/Page 7B
United Way Announces
Multi-Million Dollar Goal
By Adam L. Smith
United Way Campaign Chair
man Edward P. “Bud” Gould,
president and chief exeuctive
officer of Trust Company Bank,
announced that the 1984 cam
paign goal for United Way of
Metropolitan Atlanta has been
set at $29,818,000.
Speaking before a gathering of
volunteers and media represen
tatives recently at the Robert W.
Woodruff Volunteer Center,
Gould told the group that
although this year’s goal is am
bitious, it represents only a
portion of the community’s
critical needs.
“Even though inflation sub
sided last year in metropolitan
Atlanta, we must remember the
price that many of us paid during
the previous lean economic
years,” said Gould.
"Our agencies have a backlog
of financial needs resulting from
an era in which inflation out
stripped campaign contribu
tion,” he added.
Gould noted that 1984 cam
paign represents an 11 percent
increase, or $2.9 million new
dollars over last year’s con
tributions.
United Way of Metropolitan
Atlanta serves eight counties,
including Clayton, Cobb,
DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette,
Fulton, and Rockdale.
This year’s campaign kicked
off September 6, 1984, with the
assistance of more than 20,000
volunteers who are dedicated to
attaining the goal.
With contributions from last
year’s successful campaign, Un
ited Way funded 61 human care
agencies that provided needed
services to one in three families
in the Metropolitan Atlanta
service area.
SOUNDS OF HOPE
For 15-month old Nocole
Rozier, life was destined to be
soundless. Born three months
prematurely, she was diagnosed
as having a profound hearing
loss, possibly a result of the very
medication to sustain her life.
The news of Nicole’s deafness
was a devastating blow to her
parents, Myrlin and Ronnie
Rozier of DeKalb County. It was
a discovery filled with pain.
"I asked myself, ‘why my
baby?”’ said Mrs. Rozier.
“There was nothing that could
be done. It was a hurt feeling but
we learned to accept it pretty
well,” added Mr. Rozier.
But the grief for both parents
soon subsided after a referral to
the Auditory Educational Clinic,
a United Way agency that has
successfully taught children with
severe hearing losses to hear the
sounds of life for the first time.
Little Nicole wears a body
hearing aid, which looks like a
small, shallow box that hangs
around her neck. There are two
hearing devices connecting the
box to her ears. And, although it
is not yet clear whether Nicole
actually hears, her prognosis
looks good. She mades “bubbl
ing” sounds that are quite rare
for a child with a severe hearing
loss. It will be several months
before the verdict is in.
The clinic, located at 3016
Lanier Drive, in Northeast Atlan
ta, is under the direction of Ellen
Rhodes, a hard-working, persis
tent woman who has a vested
interest in capturing the residual
hearing power of children with
serious losses.
Rhodes learned to utilize her
own hidden hearing powers at
age six.
Today, she dons two hearing
aids, carefully concealed behind
her curly brown hair. And,
although she speaks like people
with normal hearing abilities, she
is completely deaf without the
aids.
The Auditory Educational
Clinic is one of ten in the country
utilizing the auditory-verbal ap
proach teaching children to hear
and distinguish sounds, and
ultimately teaching them to
speak. Some 350 clients are seen
at the clinic annually, including
some who are accepted (on a
one-time basis) from states as far
away as California, according to
Rhodes.
Also unique in the clinic is its
insistence that parents take the
lead in the child’s therapy and
learning process. Parents are
given intensive orientations and
are required to enroll their
hearing - impaired children in a
non-handicapped, child-care
program.
"We can't make a dent unless
we change what is happening in
the home,” said Rhodes.
"It won’t work if there isn't
one hundred percent parent
participation,” she added.
In addition to its program of
therapy the clinic provides an
A hearing test for a child in need.
Matching a child with a Big Brother.
array of services to both clients
and the general public. It checks
hearing aids, makes ear mold
impressions at a reduced rate,
provides free hearing screening
and referrals, and maintains a
complete library for parents.
Because of the works and
philosophy of the Auditory
Educational Clinic many
children are being mainstream
ed who would otherwise remain
chronically dependent. The ef
forts of this clinic and the other
60 United Way affiliates ex
emplify a primary goal of the
United Way to effectively place
your dollars where the need is
most critical.
Frederick Douglass
Tutorial Institute
Begins
The Frederick Douglass
Tutorial Institute, a community
service program run by students
of the Atlanta University Center,
began its fall 1984 session last
weekeknd.
This Institute provides a vehi
cle to help alleviate educational
deficiencies among students on
the elementary level and opens
channels for a better and closer
relationship between the
colleges and the surrounding
community.
Tutors are needed for
mathematics, reading, history,
and English. For some informa
tion, please contact Vernon R.
Morris at 753-4638, Kalian D.
Thomas at 525-9152, or, Charles
A. Nelson at 753-3464.
Taking A Closer
Look At South Africa
Reviewing the business prac
tices of U.S. companies in South
Africa is a difficult and time
consuming process, one most
colleges can't afford. Yet, in their
concern over apartheid, many
schools have adopted policies
requiring a case by case review of
such companies.
Fifteen Ivy League schools
have decided to spread the
burden of their concern by
forming a consortium to finance
the -research.
Robert Taylor, associate
treasurer of Wesleyan U. and
organizer of the gorup, projects
15 members by the fall. Harvard,
Yale, Swarthmore, Cornell,
Amherst, Williams, and Smith
have already joined.
A contribution of $2,000 to
$3,000 from each will pay the
salary of an additional research at
the Investor Responsibility
Research Center (IRRC) in
Washington, D.C., a major
provider of information on
South African investments for
universities, foundations, and
church groups.
Taylor, who sits on the IRRC
board, says the new push will
supplement what IRRC is already
doing. Presently, IRRC only
looks at South African com
panies with over 400 employees,
or which supply strategic
products to the South African
government, or which have
been criticized internally
through a successful
shareholder’s resolution within
the last year.
The new research support will
not only bring more companies
under scrutiny, it will also held
determine the combined impact
of U.S. investments on South
African apartheid policies.
A number of schools —
Howard, Antioch, and the U. of
Massachusetts — have sold all
their stocks in companies doing
business in South Africa. A
number of states — Oregon,
Wisconsin, and Michigan —
have laws forbidding state
schools from making South
African investments. Last spring,
students and faculty on many
campuses launched new efforts
to push colleges and universities
to divest. But Taylor says there is
no evidence that removing
American businesses from South
Africa or protesting their
presence in this way does
anything to work toward the end
of apartheid.
There is evidence, he says, that
U.S. companies have had a
positive influence, especially in
the area of employee activities.
He hopes detailed monitoring of
more companies will increase
the positive influence of U.S.
concern. —NUCR