Clay Speaks at the North Carolina Public Schools Conference on Exceptional Children

According to a message that Rainlover of The Clayboard saw at Clayversity, Clay spoke on Monday, November 12, at the North Carolina Public Schools Conference on Exceptional Children.

Caneaer from The Clayboard also read at the Official Fan Club a comment made by someone who was at the conference. She says:

I was just reading a recap from someone there in Dear Clay at OFC and it seems his appearance was a surprise!

Jerry Aiken was speaking and apparently talked Clay into attending and speaking as well. What a surprise it must have been for those at the conference!

Demelza3000 at the Clackhouse was at this conference, and here is the report that she gives:

I was at the conference that Clay appeared at today. I must say, seeing Clay Aiken was not on my agenda. It was a shock to us all that Clay came to talk about the Bubel Aiken Foundation. But the audience of I guess a thousand or two special educators was quite appreciative. Clay spoke about the mission of the foundation and then showed a videotape on inclusion that had us in tears. The whole thing, speech and video was about 30 minutes long.

As far as the glasses/hair/clothes report: There were no glasses that I could tell. The hair was not particularly styled, a little flat. He had on jeans, a jacket and either a shirt with tie or a colorful shirt. It was a very large room and having not known the attendees, I sat woefully in the back. That's all I remember, that and my cell phone was dead so I couldn't take a picture.

Here's a little more from demelza3000 at the Clackhouse. You'll laugh at what Clay said!

At the end, Clay was trying to tell us how to find the Bubel Aiken Booth so we could purchase the Mikalah book...he stumbled around with directions and then just gave up saying, "I'm not sure how to tell you to get there, I haven't come through the front door of a building in 5 years!" He got a big laugh with that. Then he was off....out the back door.

There was an audible gasp when Clay was introduced, then heavy applause and about half of the audience gave him a standing ovation. He was very charming and funny and there were lots of laughs, then a lot of tears during the videotape. He rushed out at the end, otherwise I think he would have had a full standing ovation at the end.

The people at that conference had no clue what a treat they were in for! Its great to know that Clay's classroom continues to reach far and wide as he speaks to others about children with disabilities.

Letter From Jerry Aiken, BAF's Executive Director, Up AT BAF Website

Most of you know that Jerry Aiken, Clay's uncle, was named Executive Director of The Bubel Aiken Foundation recently. You can read CDD's earlier article concerning this and see the great qualifications that Mr. Aiken has for this position.

At The Bubel Aiken Foundation's website, a letter from Jerry Aiken has been posted for us to read. This letter tells us of us goals for and commitment to BAF. One of the amazing things, as you can read below, is that his goal is for BAF to have 100 summer camps in 2008! This is an amazing goal, and he has issued what he calls the "100 for 1 Million Challenge" in this regard.

Read for yourself what Jerry Aiken has in mind for The Bubel Aiken Foundation, and let's begin to think of what we can do to volunteer and help BAF achieve this goal.

The Executive Director Letter

First of all let me say that it is my pleasure to work for The Bubel/Aiken Foundation in support of creating communities where ALL children can learn, live, and play together. In my short tenure it has been extremely rewarding to experience first hand the personal commitment and passion of individuals involved with the foundation. As you already know, it is the cause that we support and the great people behind the cause that will help us achieve our goals. Beyond sponsorships and donations, I must also comment on the volunteer effort that underpins TBAF. To all of you that volunteer your time as well as your money, I hope you truly understand how important your efforts are for the Foundation. To you I give my most sincere thanks. My personal commitment to the Foundation, our sponsors, donors, and volunteers is to serve all stakeholders as best possible and champion initiatives which support the mission of inclusion.

TBAF, with your help has made significant strides during the last few years. As a Foundation we have an effective inclusive summer camp program entitled “Let’s All Play.” Our Friend Mikayla, written and illustrated by the 3rd grade class in Lower Nazareth Elementary, has been well received. The Federal and State Farm grants have generated excellent initial work for a K–12 inclusive curriculum and work with Johns Hopkins University has highlighted interesting potential for helping to bridge the educational gap that exists for many students with special needs and their peers. All in all, great progress, but still much to do. I feel most importantly we have to challenge ourselves as to how we can touch the lives of more kids!

Awareness, awareness, awareness is a major challenge for the Foundation. Through awareness we can connect more minds and hearts with our mission. I talk with many individuals across the country and most all know of Clay Aiken but have not heard of The Bubel/Aiken Foundation—this is our challenge. Increasing awareness of the Foundation will expand our donor support providing additional funds benefiting more kids So with your help, I am challenging us collectively to spread the word about TBAF so that we can increase the number of donors.

We would like to set a goal of supporting 100 “Let’s All Play” camps in 2008. That means we need your help to raise an additional $1 Million this year!!!

This is a sizeable challenge which will require everyone to speak out on behalf of the Foundation, our mission and goals. There is nothing magic about 100 camps: it is a goal for all of us to connect with, and increasing the number of summer camps by any quantity will help to move us closer to our goal of inclusive communities.

I plan to use this medium to continue communications about Foundation initiatives and I will be randomly calling volunteers during the days ahead seeking ideas and guidance. Together we can and will continue to make a difference in the lives of kids of all abilities.

Stay tuned for more regarding our “100 for 1 Million” challenge, and please continue your support and excellent work!

I look forward to working with all. Thanks and God Bless!

Jerry Aiken
Executive Director