Summer has been a busy time for Dee and I as I continued to work at Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Bible Camp here in Amery, Wisconsin. For the last 30 plus years I have been a summer resource staff. It has been an honor to be able to be involved with young people's lives over the past 30 years and to be able to be a piece of their life and shape their attitudes towards other people in a positive way.
I spoke on Tuesdays. This year I spoke at chapel using the theme "In the Midst". I had about a 5 to 7 minute chapel time to incorporate my life with a disability and trying to relate to the young people about people with disabilities that have gifts and talents.
I also had the opportunity to spend time with Teams in mission. (Tim Teamers) I would spend about 60 minutes with them and also have a dialogue with them to ask if they have persons in their life that have a disability.
We were surprised by an email contact we received the other day from a group in Kuwait called "Training Gate International"--they have a website at http://www.tg-i.com/
It is an organization that is educating teachers and others in how to include people with disabilities within the schools and community. Our friend Dr. Ashleigh Molloy (who wrote the foreword to my book "IQ of 63, So What") is going to spend a week teaching in Kuwait in October. We also received a very nice letter email from one of the organizers of Training Gate. They read about Break Through Inc. and its mission. They were interested in my book and programs so we mailed them a book. I see this as being a very important beginning in that part of the world to begin accepting and including persons with disabilities within the public school systems. We are blessed to be a part of that conversation. Thanks Dr. Ash for connecting us with that organization.
FYI my book (“IQ of 63, So What!” Going Beyond Everybody Else’s Expectations) has been received by many people around the world in at least seven different countries. (Australia, Norway, Sweden, Canada, UK, China, and now Kuwait).
I was one of the keynote speakers for a CD Conference (Cognitive Disabilities) that was sponsored by CESA 6 that was held in Madison, Wisconsin this past August 2011. Our friend Dr. Ash Molloy flew in from Toronto, Ontario as he was also a keynote speaker. It was good to visit with him as we compare notes about upcoming conferences that we may be involved with around the U.S. and Canada. We have not seen him for a few years although we keep in touch by phone and email.
This week my wife Dee and I will journey up to Minot State where I will lecture to the special education class that is using my book. This will be the second time I have been to Minot State classes. I was there in October of 2010 as I was invited to kick off disability awareness month at Minot State.
My book has been read by a lot of students as the book is a textbook at two universities. It is a textbook at The University of Wisconsin-Stout in the Vocational Rehabilitation Department and in the special education Department at Minot State University, North Dakota. Many of you may know I graduated from UW-Stout in 1992 in the Vocational Rehabilitation Department. It is a great honor for me to have them read my book as part of their classes.
It is always interesting to make connections and how connections fall into place. For Minot State it was that I was the keynote speaker for the "Pathfinder’s of North Dakota" parent conference in May of 2010. After my presentation there were many educators from Minot State who invited me to speak.
Late in September Dee and I will be flying to Columbus, Ohio to attend the Second Annual Disability Conference - "Widening the Welcome" Conference which is being sponsored by the United Church of Christ Disability Ministries and Mental Health. We will have a booth there and perhaps be on a panel discussion about inclusion of persons with disabilities within the church and community. We will be looking how churches will minister more effectively to persons with disabilities.
Break Through is continuing to seek financial support in order to provide its mission --
"Our mission is one of rehabilitation education and advocacy for and about people with disabilities to encourage and enlighten the public about people with disabilities in that they are people first and have rights and needs and that they also have gifts and talents to bring to the community"
We hope that you will keep us in mind as we continue our endeavors with a donation to Break Through Inc. You may donate on line via our website at www.bendanderson.com and click on the "Guide Star" donation link or you can mail a check to Break Through Inc.-PO Box 284, Amery, WI 54001
Your gifts are very much appreciated and will be used for Break Through's mission.
Thank you and have a nice day.
Ben and Dee Anderson
Break Through Inc.
PO Box 284
Amery, WI 54001
www.bendanderson.com
