Perspective

Aktion speaks louder than words

I was brought up in a family that volunteered for one group after another. As I got older, I wanted to follow in their footsteps and help others as volunteers had helped me. But the doors were closed, because I was labeled retarded. And then Aktion Club happened, and my world has expanded in so many ways. Finally, I am able to give back to the community that has given so much to me. That’s what Aktion means to me.

Kelley Kaplan Charter president of the Aktion Club of Eastern Carolina, Greenville, North Carolina

I’m not very good at art, but it was great to make a heart in honor of the theme of our club, which is “hearts in action.” On charter night, we raised US$4,700 by auctioning those framed hearts. I still can’t believe somebody paid money for something I made. That’s what Aktion Club means to me: being recognized as a part of the generous community that gave so much to us so we could give back to others.

When a single mother with a son, Jackson—who had severe cerebral palsy, and a permanent tracheotomy tube (like the one I had when I was born) and was being fed through a tube in his stomach—walked through our door, I remembered all the pictures I had seen of myself as a baby. He needed a special chair to keep his food down, and he was very small and underweight for his age. I was so proud to write a check for almost $400 for that chair, and he and his mom visited our picnic in June with the chair. Boy, had he grown! And all because of the chair Aktion had gotten him. That’s what Aktion means to me.

As Aktion Club members, we walked in a Cancer Survivor Walk, bowled in a bowlathon, marched in a Christmas parade, sang carols at a retirement home where we gave out handmade ornaments, rang the bell for the Salvation Army, and purchased clothes and toys for the Boys and Girls Club. All those things make me proud and put a smile on my face when I think of them.

I love making cookies and brownies for the Ronald McDonald House. When we baked dinners for guests at the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge, they said it made them feel so good just to have someone who cared. That’s what Aktion Club means to me.

Now, we have an ongoing project of clipping out-of-date manufacturers’ coupons to send to military bases here and in war zones, where they will be good up to six months after the expiration date. We just sent more than 10 pounds of coupons; let me tell you, that’s a lot of clipping.

And we helped fund a camp at East Carolina University for children with special needs, just like the camps I went to. But this time, I was part of the giving! That’s what Aktion means to me.

Finally, I am able to give back the kind of help, attention, and love I have always gotten from the volunteers who have helped me for the past 30 years. That’s what Aktion means to me!

My wish is for everyone who reads this to encourage their members to tell friends about Aktion Club and that our members aren’t that much different than they are. Challenge them to tell two friends about Aktion, and have them do the same. Just think what that could mean! Hundreds and hundreds of people would learn that living with a disability doesn’t mean we don’t want the same things they do: friends, role models, and people who care enough to see us for what we are able to achieve … not what we can’t. You are our best hope to narrow the gap between “normal” and “challenged.” And finally, we will be labeled as able, not disabled.

Remember: Aktion speaks louder than words. So put your hearts in Aktion, and think of what we can do! That is really what Aktion means to me.