KILLEEN — A Killeen Pluckers employee received a life-changing gift from his co-workers Tuesday. Darien Manipol is profoundly deaf and cannot afford hearing aids. He lost his health insurance when he turned 21-years-old. So, his team and a regular customer pitched in to make it happen.
Darien has not had hearing aids for four long years. The employees raised $1,019 in a week to buy him hearing aids. They presented the money to him with a cake and a PowerPoint presentation to communicate their appreciation. He has only been an employee for about two months and was having a really rough time in his previous job for the past eight years.
"How did it feel today?" his brother Dustin asked him using American Sign Language. "I wasn't expecting it, what the crew had done for me," Darien said.
Darien's brother, Dustin, said it can be a frustrating world for Darien and this assistance is a huge help.
"He does what he can but at the same time, he's really shy at it. He doesn't like telling people he's deaf," Dustin explained.
This surprise was a morale boost for him and his family, especially his mom too. She is a full-time nursing student and was at Pluckers for the special day.
"He's so disconnected now when he can't hear anything. He's just kind of oblivious to his surroundings, so now he'll be able to hear and maybe make some friendships and be involved more," Susan Rhea, Darien's mom said.
Now, with the addition of hearing aids, he'll be able to do more here at Pluckers, including training to be a host, waiter and work in the kitchen.
"I was just really surprised after such a short time that they pulled together like that for him. They were just telling me how amazing he was and how much they loved him at work and I was just overwhelmed," Rhea said.
About 2 to 3 of every 1,000 children are born with detectable hearing loss, according to 2016 statistics from the National Institute of Health.