Aurora Lions host holiday party for deaf and hearing-impaired students

On Dec. 10, the Aurora Noon Lions Club hosted a holiday party for 130 deaf and hearing-impaired students and caregivers from Aurora, North Aurora and Batavia at Luigi's Pizza in Aurora

Students used American Sign Language to "tell" their Christmas wishes to Santa, signer Don Basalone of Lisle.

Speech pathologists and sign-language interpreters from East Aurora Unit School District 131 and West Aurora Unit District 129 assisted.

Aurora Noon Lion Bill Poss owns Luigi's restaurant. Ed Ochoa, Aurora Lions evening club president, provided Spanish translation.

The Lions partnered in the event with Sycamore-based Northwestern Illinois Association, a regional special-education cooperative. The agency serves children with autism, hearing impairment and vision impairment from 10 northern Illinois counties. Visit www.thenia.org.

Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service club organization, with 1.35 million members in more than 45,000 clubs in more than 206 countries and geographic areas.

Founded in 1917, the Lions Club is best known for fighting blindness, but they also volunteer for many different kinds of community projects - including caring for the environment, feeding the hungry and aiding seniors and the disabled.

The Aurora Noon Lions Club meets at noon on the first and third Monday of the month at Luigi's Pizza, 732 Prairie St. in Aurora. For details, visit www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/aurora/.