VERGENNES — It truly pays to live in a small community. Recently, one of our hearing-impaired students at Northlands Job Corps came to an abrupt halt in her training. That was the day that Ashley Knudsen’s battery in her hearing aid stopped working. 
Ashley, 22, came to Northlands a little over a year ago from Rhode Island. Ashley’s hearing deficit came after a childhood injury. She is set to complete the office administration trade in October and is hoping to permanently relocate to Vermont after completing the program.
Part of the training for a student who is nearing completion and who qualifies is to partake in off-center, work-based learning. Ashley was fortunate to land an opportunity at Tractor Supply is Shelburne. Ashley had to temporarily suspend her work based learning until she resolved the issue with her hearing aid. She did her homework and found the battery that she needed and the cost. Now to figure out how to pay for it? 
It was then that Christina Brace, senior administrative assistant at Northlands, overheard that Ashley was in need of a battery. Christina reached out to her mother who is a member of the Vergennes Lions Club to see if they might be able to help. She was given the information as to who to call to see if there was something that could be done.
About two weeks after to reaching out to the Vergennes Lions Club, Craig Minor, co-chair of the Lions’ Sight and Hearing Committee, came to Northlands to purchase the battery for Ashley. Within a few days, the battery arrived and Ashley was able to hear again and continue her daily routines.
She was set to return to her work-based learning job and stay on track with successfully completing the program.
Editor’s note: This article was contributed by Ron Dedrick, business community liaison at Northlands Job Corps Center in Vergennes.