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A History of The Listening
Ear
Records from the early days of the
Ear are scarce. This timeline was pieced together from old
articles and meeting minutes, and is far from complete. If you
have information about those days or corrections to the history
posted here, please contact theear@msu.edu,
or leave a message at 337-1728.
| May 21, 1969 |
A meeting was held with the MSU
Director of Student Activities and individuals involved with
community mental health, secondary schools, the state
legislature, enforcement agencies, community organizations,
the Chamber of Commerce, human relations, and religious
organizations both from Michigan State University and the
community at large. A presentation was made proposing
the establishment of a volunteer crisis center. While
people raised questions as to the feasibility, the overall
reaction was positive. |
| July 15, 1969 |
The Listening Ear opened its
doors at 547 1/2 East Grand River. The first training
session was designed by Dr. Dozier Thornton, a psychology
professor from Michigan State University. The program
ran for 40 hours (this quickly grew into the 60+ hour training
of today).
The founders decided that they
would stay open if they received at least 100 calls each month
for the first three months. They received more than
1500. The Listening Ear was the first crisis center in
Michigan, and the first all-volunteer crisis center in the
United States. The annual operating budget in those
early days was about $6000. |
| February 7, 1972 |
The Problem Pregnancy Counseling
program began. PPC counselors did weekly shifts in
addition to regular crisis shifts. They counseled girls
and women dealing with pregnancy and abortion. While the
program started out slow, by August they were receiving more
calls "than could comfortably be handled." The program
ran for two years, and was phased out around May of
1974. |
| July 15, 1974 |
Fifth anniversary open house held
at the Ear from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. |
| November, 1974 |
The Ear considered moving to the
Hagadorn Professional Building. After extensive
discussion, it was decided by consensus vote not to
relocate. |
| July, 1976 |
The Rape Counseling program, (the
forerunner of the Sexual
Assault Counseling program), was established, providing
free, short-term counseling to rape survivors as well as
advocacy and community education. |
| February 20, 1977 |
Rape Counseling was renamed Sexual Assault
Counseling. |
| October 9, 1977 |
Earliest written reference to the
JCC (named the "Journal of Creative
Communication") |
| July 15, 1979 |
The Ear celebrated its tenth
anniversary with a three-day festival and general
shindig. By this point, The Listening Ear had handled
more than 100,000 calls and walk-ins.
(As a side note, meeting minutes
from this time period still include comments like "Far
out!") |
| May 13, 1982 |
For a fundraiser, Ear volunteers
completed a 42-hour volleyball marathon. (Sadly, the Ear
missed breaking the world record by approximately 30
hours. Still, two days of non-stop volleyball is nothing
to sneer at). |
| April 23, 1983 |
SAC co-sponsored the East Lansing
Take Back the Night
march for the first time. |
| November 12, 1989 |
Listening Ear 20th Anniversary
Bash, held at the Holiday Inn. Our annual operating
budget had now grown to $27,000. |
| April 13, 1990 |
The Listening Ear was named the
113th of 1000 Points of Light for our "outstanding efforts in
behalf of [the] community" by President George Bush (the
First). |
| December, 1991 |
The Listening Ear moved to 325
Grove St. near the "Habitrail" parking garage on Grand
River. |
| May, 1993 |
After a brief stay at the new
building, the Ear once again relocated - this time to 423
Albert St. |
| March, 1994 |
The Ear entered the computer age
with a new DeskJet printer. Meeting minutes were no
longer printed on illegible dot matrix printers.
Instead, a wide variety of new and exotic fonts were used to
make meeting minutes equally illegible. |
| September 18, 1994 |
25th Anniversary Celebration held
in Patriarch Park. |
| June 27, 1998 |
The first annual Bob's Run
was held in memory of Bob Forsythe. The run raised $7500
for The Listening Ear in this first year, and has been a
well-attended and important community event ever
since. |
| August 7, 1999 |
30th Anniversary Picnic, because
Listening Ear volunteers never seem to tire of parties and
celebration. |
| April 1, 2000 |
Happy April Fool's Day!
With the help of Two Men and a Truck, The Listening Ear moved
from 423 Albert St. to 1017 East Grand River. This is
the Ear's fourth home over the past 31 years. |
| April 1, 2003 |
Continuing the new April Fool's
Day tradition, the Listening Ear moved up the street to our
current location at 313
West Grand River Avenue, in East Lansing,
Michigan. |
| April 28, 2003 |
The Listening Ear was honored
with East Lansing's Crystal Award, given to individuals, groups, organizations or
businesses who have made valuable contributions to the quality
of life in East
Lansing. |
| Today |
The Listening Ear continues its
more than 36 year tradition of providing 24-hour free crisis
services to anyone in need. Since our inception in 1969,
we have talked to more than 300,000 callers and
walk-ins. We are the oldest operating crisis center in
the nation. Our training
program has been used as a model for programs across the
country. We have provided several thousand volunteers
with what many describe as the most powerful growth experience
of their lives. |
Last
Modified: February 19, 2007
© 2007,
The Listening
Ear
313
W. Grand River
East
Lansing, MI 48823
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