As posted on the Argus Press website, Owosso, Michigan -- March 17, 2011.
BY SALLY YORK
Argus-Press Staff Writer
OWOSSO — Seventy members of area Aktion Clubs combined having fun with helping a good cause at Capitol Bowl on Wednesday.
The bowlers, developmentally disabled adults from clubs in Owosso, Mason, Holt, St. Johns and Bergmann Center, each paid $15 for lunch and two games, with $7 going to the Sleeping Children Around the World organization to provide bed kits to homeless children.
Jon Vargas, 22, of Stockbridge couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he got ready to knock down some pins.
“I came here to bowl and have fun,” he said. “Helping people out? That’s cool.”
Aktion Clubs, sponsored by Kiwanis International, are designed to open doors for people of all abilities.
Elsie Humes, 46, lives in a group home in Mason, and works at a greenhouse three days a week. She has attended the annual Aktion Club Bowl-A-Thon from its inception three years ago.
“I like bowling,” she said, “and I think it’s good for the people.”
Last year, the Bowl-A-Thon raised enough funds to provide 24 bed kits, said Sue Stone of the Shiawassee County Community Mental Health Authority.
Stone, an Aktion Club volunteer, organized the event.
“It’s a fun day for all the Aktion Clubs in Shiawassee County to get together, meet each other and raise funds for a worthwhile organization,” she said.
Gordon Schleicher, administrator of Aktion Clubs in the Lower Peninsula, drove from Mason to support the project.
“The best part of coming here is seeing these folks smile,” said Schleicher, member of the Golden K’s, a Kiwanis club in Mason.
Ian Bennett, a first-time attendee, broke into a big smile after landing strikes in his first two frames. The 31-year-old boasts a 150-point average on a bowling league in Mason, but said he was only bowling for fun Wednesday.
“Win or lose, doesn’t matter to me,” said Bennett, who lives in an apartment and works as a janitor. “I just came to have a good time.”
Linda Mason of Owosso came to watch her son, Robert Mason, 37, socialize with friends and bowl.
Mason said she enjoys attending Aktion Club events.
“These people don’t see themselves as disabled,” she said. “They have hearts as big as the world.”
Many club members live independently, such as Kim Cole, 42, of Owosso, who shares an apartment with a friend and does volunteer work. On Wednesday, she was making new friends at the Bowl-A-Thon.
“I’m trying to get to know people in the other clubs,” she said.
Aktion Clubs in Shiawassee County undertake many community service projects. For example, the Owosso Aktion Club has raised money to build wheelchair ramps, and donated $10,000 to Kids Against Hunger, thanks to proceeds from a recycling truck parked at VG’s grocery store, Stone said.
“They just enjoy helping,” she said. “It makes their day.”
