Elks donate $5,175 to student for hearing aids
February 2, 2026, 10:14 am
Donnie Matichuk
The Moosomin Elks Club have recently donated over $5,000 to the family of Dawson Pena to help cover the cost of hearing aids.
“Paityn Ireland and Deena Offet contacted us and discussed it with us. Speech and hearing is something the Elks pursue quite hard because it’s something that no one else really does, so it’s kind of our area that we look after. A lot of these kids, their parents can’t afford that kind of money for hearing aids, and after talking to Deena and Paityn, it was extremely important that this child got them. He was going to be way, way behind if he didn’t get them, and these are going to improve his life big time,” said Moosomin Elks Lodge member Ron Potter.
“Once we had heard about this, the decision was pretty easy that we would put money forward for the cause. It’s something that we look forward to, and we love to be able to help in the community. We really appreciate that we’re able to raise money to give back in the community, so when you buy a $10 or $20 ticket from us, this is the kind of stuff that it goes toward. If we can get $10 from 500 people or $20 from 250 people, here we are giving $5,000 to support someone in the community.”
Potter says much of the money that was donated was from their raffles and scrap project.
“The scrap project gets a lot of stuff out of the dump, and we can turn it into money that goes toward a lot of really important things for people in town. It goes towards hospitals, rinks, ball diamonds, and individuals. Being able to put money where it needs to go is always something that makes you feel good to live here,” he said.
The Elks also recently took a big hit with the loss of a 45-year member.
“We lost a very active and instrumental member in a lot of our projects with Larry Tomlinson, we’re all shocked. He’s always been part of the reason we can donate this kind of money for things.
“Being able to give back to the community like this is why we do it, and it’s really nice to know that you helped to improve someone’s life. For years, when Medicaid first came in, they never covered anything with speech and hearing, so that’s when we really got into helping people with speech and hearing needs.”
The Elks of Canada were part of the group that made hearing tests for newborns routine.
“Nowadays, it’s regular for your baby’s hearing to be checked right away so it can be caught early if there’s a problem, so that they never know what it’s like to be deaf,” said Potter.
“We’re really lucky to have organizations like the Elks in our community. Their generosity and support are making it possible for him to get the hearing aids he needs. We are all very grateful,” said MacLeod Grade 2 teacher Paityn Ireland.
“We are beyond grateful to have this organization help us with the funding of hearing aids,” said the boy’s mother, Jackie Pena.
“It’s a big help for our family. We found out that we’d be getting some money earlier this month. I thought it would be a bit of a longer process, but we were getting pictures taken and had received it in just a few days. I think we found out on the 20th and received the money on the 23rd,” she said.
“Dawson is very excited, we’ve been going to specialists for a few appointments, and they explained everything to him. They told him that he would be able to hear much better with hearing aids, and that he would be able to speak better as well. Before it has been keeping him from speaking very well because of his hearing issues.
“I asked his teacher about it, because I was worried some kids may find the hearing aids odd and be curious about them, but Deena said that there are a few students in the school with them, and that it wasn’t uncommon at all.”
The Penas say that they are very appreciative of everyone that has helped them with Dawson’s hearing aids.
“We are grateful for Deena, Ms. Ireland, and all of the Elks organization for really helping us. I had no idea that we had organizations like this here in Moosomin, but they have helped us with everything they’ve needed,” said Jackie.
“We give thanks to everyone that helped to make this possible for us!”
