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April 7, 2003

Embezzlement forces closure of kids' center

From: York Dispatch, PA - Apr 7, 2003

Nonprofit speech and hearing unit runs out of money Friday
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM The Associated Press
FORT WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Leigh Urbanski began embezzling money from the Helen Beebe Speech and Hearing Center almost as soon as she started working there in June 2000, and continued the scheme until her resignation as finance manager 16 months later, authorities say.

The total amount of the theft was $124,000, police say -- a death blow to the small nonprofit Beebe Center, which for more than 50 years has helped children with severe and profound hearing loss.

The last therapy session at Beebe is scheduled for Friday, and the hearing center's lease expires April 30. The boxes are already packed, and the center is down to a skeleton crew of one therapist and an office assistant.

"I don't understand how somebody could do this to these children and these families," said Robert Bush, president of the center's volunteer board of directors. "This is a great disappointment."

Credit cards: Police say the embezzlement involved four credit card accounts, a cellular telephone account, and forged checks that Urbanski wrote to cash, or used to buy personal items or make payments on the credit cards.

Urbanski, 34, of Upper Dublin Township, is also suspected of embezzling $65,000 from a youth football team while she was its treasurer. Her husband, Matthew Urbanski, 35, is charged in that case as well. Both are free on bail.

"The fact that Leigh Urbanski would steal from children in her own community shows what kind of person she is," said Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Steven Latzer. "When you are stealing money that is specifically designated to help disadvantaged children, in this case hearing-impaired kids, it is particularly offensive."

Leigh Urbanski, who has yet to enter a plea, has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached for comment. Her attorney declined comment. Matthew Urbanski's attorney said he will plead innocent.

Rare center: The Beebe Center is one of about 10 hearing centers of its kind in the nation, and the only one in the Northeast, according to Bush. It was founded by the late Helen Hulick Beebe, a renowned speech-language pathologist who pioneered an approach to hearing impairment called Auditory-Verbal.

At Beebe, children are taught to use their "residual hearing" -- the tiny amount of sound they are able to process -- to get maximum use from hearing aids and, more recently, cochlear implants. The Auditory-Verbal approach de-emphasizes the use of sign language and lip reading, teaching children instead to communicate through spoken language.

There are about 136 therapists certified in the Auditory-Verbal approach nationwide, according to Auditory-Verbal International, an advocacy group in Alexandria, Va., co-founded by Helen Beebe.

"It's an intense program, but well worth it," said Mary Senior, whose 7-year-old daughter, Catherine, has received therapy at the Beebe Center since she was 4. "She is mainstreamed (at school) and does everything the rest of the kids do."

Bush, chief executive of a Philadelphia insurance brokerage, became involved as a volunteer after his severely hearing-impaired son, now 13, received therapy there.

A struggle: He said it's always been a financial struggle for the center, which had to rely on donations for about half of its $250,000 annual operating budget.

Bush said the center was forced to lay off most of the staff after the thefts were discovered in October 2001, including speech therapists and the center's fund-raiser. Donations dried up, partly because of the sluggish economy and partly because people were reluctant to take a chance on the struggling organization, he said.

The center, which provided therapy to 15 to 20 children at a time, has been referring parents to other programs.

©2003 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and York Newspaper Company