In 2024, Valerie helped establish the Lions Listen Up! Preschool Hearing Health Outreach Program, connecting the Lions Clubs of Virginia and the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind on an initiative to improve access to objective hearing health screening using otoacoustic emissions (OAE). Following a successful fundraising effort and series of training events in Southwestern Virginia, the Lions purchased 12 OAE units and trained more than 100 volunteers. The Lions Preschool Hearing Health Outreach Program officially launched in 2025, offering daycares, preschools, and other cohorts of children ages 2-5 years old access to free hearing screening in SW Virginia. The program is steadily expanding across Virginia, with the goal of having a state-wide program up and running in 2027.

For more information, visit https://www.vsdb.k12.va.us/page/listenup