Belleville residents Lisa Sobek (left) and Samantha Sobek (right) are treated to a meet-and-greet with singer/actress Miley Cyrus. Starkey Hearing Foundation Executive Director Steven Sawalich (right center) introduced the Bellevilleites to the star on July 24.
While most of her friends spent last weekend at family barbeques or on the Jersey shore, 12-year-old Samantha Sobek of Belleville was hobnobbing with celebrities on the Red Carpet.
Samantha and her mother, Lisa Sobek, were the winners of The Starkey Hearing Foundation’s “Listen Carefully” Sweepstakes. The foundation flew the mother-daughter duo to Minneapolis last weekend, where they attended a star-studded luncheon, private rehearsal and meet-and-great with Pop sensation/actress Miley Cyrus, a celebrity auction/fundraiser and a Red Carpet gala.
“It was like the Academy Awards, it was amazing… I can’t even explain,” said Lisa of the gala, citing how the foundation also treated her and Samantha to professional hair and makeup for the evening.
Among the stars at the weekend’s events were Kevin Costner, Whoopi Goldberg, Jordan Sparks, David Arquette, Gary Busey, President Bill Clinton and Marlee Matlin – who spoke with Samantha.
“I actually got to meet Marlee Matlin,” Samantha gushed. “She is my idol and I think she’s beautiful, and I really hope to be like her when I grow up.”
During the private rehearsal with Miley Cyrus, Samantha and Lisa were treated to a concert of about eight songs, and then got to take the stage with the singer and her dog for some conversation and a photo shoot.
“I was scared, but I was very excited,” Samantha said of standing beside Cyrus on the large stage.
Samantha’s bedroom is adorned with a “Hannah Montana” poster – paying homage to the sitcom that Cyrus starred in – and her cellphone is full of Cyrus’s music, Lisa said.
“You can hear how loud the music is, even with the things in her ears,” said Lisa, adding that her young daughter is already showing signs of hearing problems.
And that is where The Starkey Hearing Foundation comes in. Its members aim to foster hearing care through awareness, education, protection and treatment initiatives. The Foundation recently visited Haiti on a mission to distribute hearing aids to those in need. The motto of the Foundation’s current “Listen Carefully” campaign – for which Miley Cyrus is a public advocate – is, “Your hearing is fragile, so don’t listen loudly, listen carefully.”
There are 6.5 million teens diagnosed with some level of hearing loss – an increase of 31 percent over the past decade, the Foundation reports.
“As an artist, I want to make sure fans are able to experience the magic of music as it was intended,” said Cyrus in a released statement. “By just lowering the volume and using the right protection for your ears, hearing loss can be prevented, which means never losing the ability to enjoy the sound of a guitar, a beautiful lyric or a favorite song.”
Lisa was home on disability and “bored” when she happened to find the online entry form for Starkey’s sweepstakes, she said.
“So I entered, not thinking anything of it, because when does anyone ever win,” she added.
“They called me and I ignored it. And they emailed, and I ignored that, too… finally, they sent an email and said that was the last time they’d try to reach me. I responded and asked ‘What’s the catch,’” Lisa said.
To her surprise, there was no catch.”I was excited and star-struck every moment I was there,” Samantha said of the weekend. “And I was very touched. The Starkey Hearing Foundation… they take their time and have other people joining in. I think it’s fabulous. They made a hearing aid for one of the people in the room, and I was so amazed that she got this little machine to make her hear. It was very, very cool.”
Samantha is hoping to volunteer her time to the foundation in the future, she said.
“My daughter wants to be involved as much as she can,” her mother added. “The foundation is just amazing. What they do for these under-privileged countries and children… to see them hear for the first time. It’s just amazing.”
Source: NorthJersey.com
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