OUR PROJECTS
The Focus of Our Efforts
Hearing Aids for Adults and Children
Sertoma’s mission is hearing health. We seek to improve the quality of life in our community for those at risk or impacted by hearing loss through education and support. A major part of our club activities include purchasing speech and hearing devices (i.e., hearing aids, test equipment, fire alarms) for adults and children.
For more information on how you can donate click here.
Jack O’Kelley Sertoma Club Memorial Scholarship at Alamance Community College
The Jack O’Kelley Sertoma Club has established and sponsored the Jack O’Kelley Endowment Scholarship at Alamance Community College. The primary purpose is to provide funds to assist students who have speech, hearing or language disabilities. Over the years, the club has contributed more than $25,000.
Mentoring
Several members of the Jack O’Kelley Sertoma Club serve with the Alamance-Burlington School System’s African American Male Initiative. Members volunteer as mentors to black male students in grades 3-8 in several of the district’s Title 1 elementary and middle schools.
Annual National Heritage Essay Contest
Each year, the Jack O’Kelley Sertoma Club sponsors the National Heritage Essay contest for high school students and awards cash prizes to the top three winners. The contest typically begins in January and ends in late March. An essay topic is selected and given to the schools.
Students in grades nine through 12 are eligible to participate. Principals, guidance counselors and English teachers are the contact persons in each school. Three winners are selected. The first-place winner receives $750. The second-place winner $500, and the third-place winner $250. The awards are presented to the students at the club’s annual Heritage Banquet in April.
ACTIVITIES
Bringing Change
Annual Heritage Banquet
The Heritage Banquet is held by the Jack O’Kelley Sertoma Club each year in April. It is a time of celebration of our volunteer efforts throughout the year. We present an award to a member of the community who renders exemplary service to the area in which the club resides. The honor is called the Service to Mankind Award. The student winners of the National Essay Contest are revealed and presented their awards. We thank the community for their support of our fundraising activities during the year and relate how that support helps us give service to mankind.
Thanksgiving Cheer
Each Thanksgiving, the Jack O’Kelley Sertoma Club distributes boxes of food to ten families in the community to help make their holiday a fulfilling occasion. The boxes contain all of the foodstuffs that would make a family have a complete traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Christmas Cheer
During the Christmas holiday, the Jack O’Kelley Sertoma Club selects three families from the Christmas Cheer project in Burlington and purchase toys and clothes for each member in the family. Members wrap the gifts and deliver them to the families so that the children will have them to open on Christmas morning.
Camp Sertoma for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children
Camp Sertoma for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children is a coed camp for youth ages 8-16 who are deaf, hard of hearing, use a cochlear implant or are signing children of deaf adults. The week-long camp is held each June at Millstone 4-H Center in Ellerbe, NC. The Jack O’Kelley Sertoma Club supports local youth who are either deaf or hard-of-hearing to attend Camp Sertoma each summer and/or give a scholarship for students to attend the camp.
National Hard of Hearing or Deaf Scholarship
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Communicative Disorders Scholarship
