St. Louis Center residents enjoying giving back to the community, shown here creating Aktion Club Christmas cards that were completely sold out!
SLC residents giving back to the community with Kiwanis Aktion Club activities
Aktion Club is one of many popular activities with St. Louis Center residents.It is a Service Leadership program sponsored by Kiwanis International, made up of individuals with disabilities and promotes leadership, teamwork, problem-solving, and community engagement. The St. Louis Center has a thriving Aktion Club with 26 members.
Aktion Club Fundraiser
Every year, the SLC Aktion Club does a Christmas card fundraiser to raise money for different local charities. First, the Aktion Club members hand-painted, colored, and created several beautiful designs to have printed onto the Christmas cards. The club members voted on their two favorite designs and then had the cards made at the print shop. Then, the club got to work stuffing the envelopes with cards and packaging them in fancy Christmas ribbons to be sold in packs of 10. This process took hours but the club enjoyed listening to Christmas carols while they worked.
Once all the cards were packaged, the club began to sell the cards at local churches after Sunday Mass each week including Our Lady of Fatima (Michigan Center), St. Andrew (Saline), and St. Mary (Chelsea). The club members made sure to introduce themselves, explain what the Aktion Club is all about, and explain that the money raised would be donated back to charitable organizations in the community. The community members loved the cards and the mission so much that the Aktion Club completely sold out of cards!
Club members described the feeling of making these donations as “heartwarming” and “the right thing to do”.
Altogether, the Aktion Club raised $1,790 from the 2023 Christmas card fundraiser. So far, two donations have been made from the funds raised. Aktion Club members visited Faith in Action in Chelsea and donated $500 to help provide food, clothing, and other supplies to people in need in the Chelsea area. Another $500 donation was made to the Cascades Humane Society in Jackson to help care for animals in need in the Jackson area.
This activity is only one example of the many activities St. Louis Center residents participate in throughout the year. With Aktion Club, the club members described the feeling of making these donations as “heartwarming” and “the right thing to do”. The Aktion Club participants can’t wait to get started on their next project and continue to impact their community!
Read the entire issue of St. Louis Spirit here!
