Osmonds open first hearing center in Springfield

The Branson performing family is holding a grand opening that was scheduled to start at 11 a.m. with special guest and fellow Branson entertainer Andy Williams at the center, 1618 E. Republic Road in the French Quarter Plaza. The center provides hearing aid technology and hearing protection.

Justin Osmond, son of Osmond Brothers lead singer Merrill Osmond, is spearheading the venture. He, like Merrill’s brothers Tom and Virl, has a congenital hearing condition. He’s using the family name – along with its support and clout – to help others in similar situations to get the care he has received his whole life.

“My mom and dad got me the best care available – they put me through 12 years of speech therapy, so I was able to learn to talk and to hear,” he said. “Having received that gift of better hearing, I wanted to give that to everyone.”

The Osmond family is putting an undisclosed amount of its own money, combined with funds from unnamed backers, into what they think could become a national chain.

“I can say that if one of the backers who is looking at us does get involved, we’ll be in every state in the union very quickly,” Merrill Osmond said, “But that’s not our style – becoming huge overnight. We want to step it up gradually.”

The family has been helping others for years. The Osmond Foundation was created more than 30 years ago with the goal of helping the hearing impaired, and from that foundation grew another charity: the Children’s Miracle Network, which has grown from a small televised fundraiser in 1983 to a charity that helps 17 million children each year.

The charitable work continues with the new venture; the family created the Olive Osmond Perpetual Hearing Fund, named after the family matriarch, to accept broken and worn-out hearing aids for refurbishing and to support hearing aid purchase for the less fortunate. A portion of sales at the new Osmond Hearing Center will go to the fund.

See SBJ’s April 14 issue for more on the new Osmond Hearing Center.[[In-content Ad]]