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The Aktion Club of Elmira
is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Elmira NY. and is the one original
Aktion Club of the Southern Tier and Chemung County New York.
The mission of Aktion Club is:
- To provide
adults with disabilities an opportunity to develop initiative and
leadership skills.
- To serve their
community.
- To be
integrated into society.
- To demonstrate
the dignity and value of citizens living with disabilities.
Aktion Club members strive to return to their
communities the benefits, help, and caring they have received, as well
as develop important skills in the process.
An Aktion Club can
benefit its members in many ways through service and recreational
events. These activities enable the members to:
- Participate in
the active life of the community.
- Provide an
opportunity to contribute to the community.
- Develop
mechanical, creative, and intellectual abilities.
- Social
interaction awareness.
- Improve
self-esteem.
- Develop
leadership skills.
- Achieve
personal and service goals.
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The First
Meetings:
Aktion Club is the newest member of the Sponsored Organizations and
Programs at Kiwanis International. Aktion Club is a community-service
group for adult citizens who live with a disability. The Aktion Club of
Elmira NY is based in the Chemung District of Kiwanis International and
of the first in this district.
On April 18 2007, the first meeting of the Elmira Kiwanis opened to the
public to invite them as potential members to the newly forming area
Aktion Club. During the next few meetings, we discussed what the idea
and mission of an Aktion Club could do for its members, and what the
members could do for the organization as well. In June of 2007 we
elected board members and initiated the process of creating by-laws.
Then on our meeting of July 18 2007, we had everything we needed to
complete our charting process and its paperwork.
The Web Site:
On July 3 2007 our first temporary web site was created by one of our
charter members. He also is our current webmaster and hosts the web
site using his account on a major hosting company. At out July meeting
we decided upon a domain name for our web site and then our webmaster
ordered it from one of the best domain registry companies. This allowed
us to have our web site up and running as AktionClub-Elmira.Org
during the first week of August 2007. This site started as a one page
web site, then a two page site when a photo page added to it. Now it is
in its current form. This site is still under construction, and
may/will have errors or spelling mistakes as it evolves. Our current
webmaster has a "condition" called Dyslexia which makes these errors
and mistakes harder to find.
The Chartering Dinner:
On October 11 2007 the Aktion Club of Elmira was officially chartered.
By that date, we had about 40 charter members. We celebrated the
completion of the charting process with a dinner at Hill Top Inn, where
Mayor John S. Tonello declared that date to be known as Aktion Club of
Elmira Day. Our celebration including members from Aktion Club of
Elmira, Elmira Kiwanis, Sponsoring Agencies, plus some guests. The room
was packed and we had a good time.
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