Krowne Vocal School and
New York Speech & Hearing
Supporting Frontline Workers
Each Business Awarded $2,500 in Marketing by Bethpage Federal Credit Union
This year, as part of its commitment
to the Bethpage Best
of the City Program and small
businesses across Manhattan
during this difficult time,
Bethpage Federal Credit Union
organized the Best Small Business
Role Model Giveaway –
offering Bethpage Best of the
City winners an opportunity
to share how they have given
back during the pandemic to
support first responders, their
community and those in need.
Our editors have chosen two
businesses to feature and each
will be given a $2,500 marketing
grant for any Schneps Media
digital or print properties,
including amNY Metro, The
Villager, Chelsea Now, New
York Family and many others.
Here, the business owners tell
their stories:
KROWNE VOCAL KEEPS THE
BEAT GOING ONLINE
Jennifer Krowne
A lot of our singing students
have frontline workers in their
families and community, and
we wanted to provide emotional
support to them in this difficult
time. So we did what our singing
school community knows best
how to do: We sang! The result
is a virtual choir performance of
Alicia Keys’ “Good Job” by our
students and team.
The pictures of the frontline
workers in our video clip are
of our friends, family, and other
community members who
are doctors, nurses, etc. These
are not stock images, but some
of the real heroes of our local
community, representing their
fearless colleagues all over the
country (and world)! All the
singers in the clip are from the
NYC area (students and staff at
our school).
A considerable amount (almost
3 full-time weeks) of
volunteer work went into
this: composing a choir arrangement;
creating a “virtual
choir” by organizing and recruiting
our singing students
for all voice parts; planning
and directing rehearsals with
participating singers via Zoom;
assisting students throughout
their video recording process at
their homes via Zoom; editing,
combining and mixing the audio
tracks and video clips; publishing
the finished video clip
on YouTube and spreading the
word to healthcare and other
essential workers, so they can
hopefully feel acknowledged
and uplifted, for a moment.
This was done by our staff
(mostly me, with invaluable
time and help from my amazing
colleagues). All singers additionally
contributed learning &
practicing the arrangement, and
recording their clips from home.
After publishing the video clip
we received a lot of messages
from essential workers from all
over the US and even beyond,
thanking us for acknowledging
and supporting them.
I am grateful to be able to share
this musical effort to support our
frontline workers with you, and
I am very excited to hear/read
about the amazing things local
businesses have done to support
our frontline workers!
Learn more about
Krowne Vocal School at
krowneonyourvoice.com
TAKING MISSION
OF LISTENING
TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Melissa E. Heche, Au.D
Earlier this year my
mother was sent to the
hospital with a diagnosis
of COVID-19. Because
of my healthcare
background, the hospital
credentialed me and allowed
me to come in to
help manage her healthcare.
I closed my practice
and spent as much time as
I could there. I could not
always stay in her room so
I helped the staff with other
patients who were similarly suffering.
It was a painful and emotional
time, but I felt fortunate to
be a part of the entire system that
was helping people most in need.
I lost my mother a few months
ago and even after I handed
my scrubs in for the last time, I
took with me the stories of the
patients who I could be with
to help them and their families
communicate. It was not easy, but
at the end of the day I take with
me the knowledge that –
amidst such great heartache,
pain, illness and loss
– the only thing that really
matters is that we love
and are loved, and that we
communicate with those
with whom we share that
love. In the hospital, nobody
was worried about
their project not being
completed, nobody was
concerned about their
contracts that were waiting
on their desks. Everyone
was only concerned
with one thing: who they love
and how they could continuously
communicate that to them. At
the end of the very long day that
we have been through, that is
truly the only thing that matters.
I spent my career helping and
improving people’s abilities to
communicate with each other
by helping them hear and speak.
Photo credit: Melissa Heche
Now, I take my career mission
and I will push it to the next level,
making sure that I can help more
people, improve access to services,
and ensure that the one thing
that drives us all is attainable for
everyone: the love that we share
with others and the way that we
communicate that love to each
other.
Visit ny-sh.com to see how
New York Speech & Hearing can
help you or your loved one.
Photo credit: Melissa Heche
Schneps Media Sept. 17, 2020 19
/krowneonyourvoice.com
/ny-sh.com
