“The AKtion Club and Self Advocates meetings are fun, educational and creative. I am always amazed by the members’ ideas and energy. — Norma Montaigne, former Kiwanis Liaison

AKtion Club of Rutland County – Serving Citizens in our Community

The AKtion Club of Rutland County, a Kiwanis family member, is a group of adults living with disabilities who do community service projects to give back to their community. While ARC Rutland Area staff help facilitate the group, the club members decide who they want to help and how.

We have a number of ways that we have fun working together to give back to our community. We have food drives, pet food drives, and some years we have planted and maintained a vegetable garden. Proceeds of these activities are all donated to the food shelves in Rutland such as: BROC, Community Cupboard, Salvation Army, etc. We have collected school supplies for Tatum’s Totes. We have at least two fundraisers a year as well, such as bake sales, car washes, etc. Proceeds from these fundraisers go into a bank account for the club, and at the end of the year we either adopt a family in need for Christmas through the Boys and Girls Club or make a donation to the WSYB Christmas Fund. We also make greeting cards to send to shut-ins, veterans, and those in active military service.

Even though we have such a good time doing all that we do for our community, we take time out to have some time for fun for ourselves as well. We try to get together each summer for a special cookout with our Self Advocacy group, we have a special Christmas party, and we go to all the ARC dinner dances throughout the year.

We thank our AKtion Club Members and all of our friends and families in the community for all of their support and donations that contribute to us having a very successful program.

What is the purpose of an AKtion Club?

An AKtion Club is a community–service group for adult citizens living with disabilities. The mission of the AKtion Club is to provide adults with disabilities the opportunity to develop initiative and leadership, to serve their community, to be integrated into society, and 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 that they have received, while developing important skills in the process.

What are the benefits of AKtion Club?

Individuals who live with disabilities often have many talents but little opportunity to develop or apply them. These special citizens have few chances to interact socially and sometimes little opportunity to function in society. Too often they are isolated and dependent when they could be making valuable contributions to themselves and to the world around them. Agencies that serve those who live with disabilities do their best to help these individuals reach their potential, however, they do not have the funding or staff to provide the community-based social and recreational activities that their clients need. The volunteer effort of local Kiwanis sponsors can address these and many other concerns through the AKtion Club. AKtion Club enables members to:

Participate in the active life of community
Contribute to the community
Develop mechanical, creative, and intellectual abilities
Participate in social interaction awareness
Improve self-esteem and sense of accomplishment
Develop leadership skills
Achieve personal and service goals

Who sponsors an AKtion Club?

Our AKtion Club is sponsored by a Kiwanis Club and ARC-Rutland Area, a local agency supporting citizens who live with disabilities. An AKtion Club also can be sponsored by a group of clubs or a division (Kiwanis Clubs within an area), or a Kiwanis Club may wish to co-sponsor an AKtion Club with a Key Club (high school students) and/or Circle K (college students).