USA-based (Minnesota) Starkey Hearing Foundation is a charity that delivers more than 20,000 hearing aids each year through more than 100 hearing missions around the world. Founded in 1973, The Foundation also supports health awareness, research and education. Starkey Hearing Foundation’s website has info on volunteering or donating used hearing aids.

Since the year 2000, over 200,000 hearing aids have been distributed around the world:

• Mexico - 52,725 hearing aids
• South America - 17,855
• USA - 80,343
• Caribbean & Central America - 20,143
• Europe & Middle East - 15,542
• Africa - 9,547
• Asia - 16,340 hearing aids

In Asia, hearing aids have been distributed in Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India , Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Bohol, Marshall Islands, Vietnam and Korea.

In Africa, hearing aids have been distributed in Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, South Africa , Tanzania, Uganda, Umtata, West Africa, Zaire, Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast.

Friends of Starkey Hearing Foundation include George Strait, Senator Paul Simon, General Norman Schwarzkopf, Dan Reeves, Richard Petty, Arnold Palmer, The Osmond Family, Walter Cronkite and Michael Bolton.