Girl Scout Sets Out to 'Aid' Less Fortunate

When Girl Scouts reach the culmination of years of hard work and community service, they’re required to attain one last badge: the Gold Award.

The Gold Award is largely based on a singular focus of community service; helping one group of people or aiding a specific need.

For Long Valley’s Courtney Cross, the focus of her Gold Award was born from personal adversity, and now she plans to aid those in need.

Born with 40-percent hearing loss in both ears, Cross, a West Morris Central High School student, knows the effect hearing aids can have on those in her same position.

She also knows there are many children with hearing loss not fortunate enough to be able to have the aids they need.

So Cross has set up a drop-off location at Hackettstown Regional Medical Center for people to leave their used and unneeded hearing aids. From there, Cross will hand them over to the Starkey Foundation where the apparatus will be remolded and reused.

“The process will allow the less fortunate to purchase hearing aids at a lower price,” the teen said.

The project is also about raising awareness, Cross said, who is working on a children’s book about hearing loss, and has created a blog titled “Can You Hear Me?”

The blog is focused on giving advice to youth with hearing loss from someone who has endured the same challenge.

Those interested in donating hearing aids can do so by dropping them off at the front desk of the Hackettstown Regional Medical Center on Willow Grove Street in Hackettstown.