Springfield College Students Receive Humanitarian Award

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield College communication sciences and disorders students, who are members of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Assoc., recently received the WillPower Foundation’s University/College Humanitarian Award. The WillPower Foundation provides financial support that empowers Western Mass. families and individuals with different abilities to meet their unique needs.

“We are extremely honored to have received this award in our first year as an official National Student Speech Language Hearing Association chapter,” said Springfield College student and National Student Speech Language Hearing Assoc. treasurer Abbie King. “The Springfield College communication sciences and disorders program was given the award in recognition of the program’s commitment to assisting the WillPower Foundation with fund-raising and advocacy work. The college hosted multiple fund-raising events over the last year for WillPower, and we plan to have another large fund-raising event for the foundation in the spring.”

The WillPower Foundation provides grants for items such as mobility equipment, therapeutic recreation, advocacy costs, attorney’s fees, private tutoring, and personal-care needs.

“I witnessed first-hand how important the WillPower Foundation is in the community,” said King. “At my internship with Communicare, I noticed that many of the clients we worked with had been awarded grants to purchase communication apps on their iPads, which gave these children a voice that they otherwise would not have had.”

The National Student Speech Language Hearing Assoc. has approximately 13,000 members at more than 300 independently operated chapters located on college and university campuses in the U.S. and abroad.