Deaf Empowerment had their second annual event on October 23rd, 2004 at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. We had Professor Glick come all the way from Maryland to come and humor us in Deafology 101. What a riot!

PAH! was Deaf Empowerment’s second event, an opportunity to share all of the exciting plans we have with the community. Almost 250 people attended our event, and after all was said and done we raised almost $1,500 to support Deaf Empowerment. The money will be used towards the many programs we are developing.

Thank you to all who came and showed support to Deaf Empowerment! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Believe it or not, we’re already starting to plan next year’s event which will be on October 23rd. 2005. We would like your help. If you were one of the many who attended, we would like to hear what you thought of it. Please feel free to write to any of the Board Members, or to Melanie Blechl and myself with suggestions for next year. Or send your email to info@deafe.org.

Part of the reason PAH! was such a big success this year was the many businesses and individuals who donated their time and money to helping make it a success. For example, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Human Services Organization, sponsored our event which allowed us to use the facility for no cost. We also want to give a huge thank you to the two sign language interpreters who donated their time to the event… Melanie Blechl and Ellen Dressler from Sign Language Associates! On the next page of this newsletter you will find a list of all of the places that so graciously made contributions to Deaf Empowerment for PAH! We hope that you will show these businesses support when you do your shopping or are looking for services. They supported us, let’s support them.

All of the door prizes and auction items were donated from individuals and businesses. When we were asking for donations we asked that items be donated for either a silent auction (to be paid for as a fund raiser) or as a door prize (to give to people for attending). If it wasn’t for the incredible support we couldn’t have raised nearly $1,500. Please show support to these companies as they have for us!

Once again, thank you to all for showing. We couldn't have made it this far without you! We look forward to seeing you at next year’s PAH! Event on October 23rd, 2005! We will have Matt “Magic” Morgan come to perform for us next year. Continue to watch the newsletter for details on the upcoming event!