TV actor praises Kiwanis's new club

By Jim Reagen, Johnson Newspapers
Published July 17, 2010, in WatertownDailyTimes.com
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20100717/NEWS05/307179981

OGDENSBURG, NEW YORK—Mark T. Valley, star of the Fox television series "Human Target," praised the members and organizers of the Ogdensburg Kiwanis Club's newly chartered Aktion Club, telling them it will give them a chance to give back to their community.

The Aktion Club, which also is being sponsored by St. Lawrence NYSARC, is a community service club for adults living with mental and physical disabilities.

Mr. Valley, who recently returned from the Dominican Republic, where he volunteered with the Clinton Foundation, providing HIV drug treatment to the Third World nation, was the keynote speaker at Thursday's Aktion Club Charter Night.

Mr. Valley said he was no stranger to the efforts of the Ogdensburg Kiwanis Club, pointing out that in his youth, he played Kiwanis baseball. In high school, he served as vice president of Kiwanis's Ogdensburg Free Academy Key Club.

His mother, Martha, is a two-time president of the Ogdensburg Kiwanis Club.

Daphne A. Pickert, executive director of NYSARC, said the Aktion Club will provide a way for some of the people served by her agency to become more involved with the community and to interact with people.

"We're always looking for opportunities for the people we serve to help them give back to their community," she said. "They tell us it is one of the most fulfilling things they do."

Five years ago, NYSARC organized Team NYSARC as a way to help employees and people served by NYSARC help their communities.

Today, Team NYSARC is involved in 75 activities, ranging from helping Relay for Life and Habitat for Humanity to hosting the annual Autism Walk.

"For a long time, people with disabilities didn't have these opportunities," she said. "They would see parents, brothers and sisters involved in these activities."

Thanks to the Ogdensburg Kiwanis Club, she said, the Aktion Club members will have an opportunity to work side by side with Kiwanis Club and Key Club members on some of their projects throughout the year.

Ogdensburg Kiwanis Club President Larry Mitchell praised the efforts of past president Carolyn McPherson and her husband, Donald, who organized the Aktion Club.