For 36 years, Tacoma Sertoma Club has held a picnic for Tacoma’s deaf community. This year, the event was held at Birney Elementary School on June 5.

About 500 deaf children and their families from school districts throughout Western Washington participated. The warm weather was perfect for enjoying clowns, firemen, trucks and motorcycle police officers. Children were also graced with a special visit from Rhubarb, the Tacoma Rainiers mascot.

“It was a good turnout,” said Linda L. Dobner, a member of the club. She said the picnic drew people from as far away as Edmonds and Lacey. It even attracted a college student from Oregon. “He was in the Puyallup program since he was 3 years old and is now a third-year college student.”

Paul Bert, sign language coordinator for Tacoma Public Schools, was also in attendance. Growing up in Massachusetts, Bert took a special interest in sign language because he had deaf neighbors. After moving to the Tacoma area more than 10 years ago, he quickly made a connection with the community’s deaf population.

“People using sign language don’t look at it like a disability,” he said. “It’s more like a minority group.”

At the picnic, Bert made a $150 personal contribution to the Sertoma Club. He wanted to show his appreciation and admiration for the long-time community contributions made by the club.

“I’m just so impressed they have been doing this for so many years,” Bert said. “This was just a great opportunity to get together. If you lose track of someone, you know you will see them at the deaf picnic.”

Sertoma Club is a non-profit organization that sponsors projects to promote freedom and democracy; to assist youth and to benefit a variety of other local community needs, as identified by the individual clubs. The organization’s primary service project is assisting the more than 50 million people with hearing health issues.