This article was scheduled to be posted yesterday. However, the excitement of Clays gift to us was so much fun, it was decided to postpone this article until today.
On Wednesday, April 25, 2007, the National Center for Learning Disabilities celebrated its 30th Anniversary Benefit Dinner, “Voices of Our Children, Voices of Our Future” at the New York Marriott Marquis. More than $2.1 million was raised and more than 650 people attended.
In 2007, the honorees were, Clay Aiken, who was listed as a Recording Artist & Co-Founder of the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, and the recipient of the NCLD Children’s Advocacy Award; Arthur Ryan, Chairman & CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc., recipient of the NCLD Spirit of Achievement Award; and Donald Deshler, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Research on Learning, University of Kansas, recipient of the NCLD Distinguished Education Achievement Award. These three gentlemen were honored for their remarkable efforts on behalf of children, adolescents and adults with learning disabilities.
The entertainment for the night was provided by 40 students from the Currey Ingram Academy of Brentwood, Tennessee, a school for learning disabled students. These students were part of the evening’s program, singing and playing Clay Aiken’s “I Will Carry You”. The students brought the house down with their spirited rendition of this beautiful song. The students travel and trip were funded by John and Stephanie Ingram of Brentwood.
According to their website, “the mission of NCLD is to ensure that the nation’s 15 million children, adolescents and adults with learning disabilities have every opportunity to succeed in school, work and life. NCLD provides essential information to parents, professionals and individuals with learning disabilities, promote research and programs to foster effective learning, and advocate for policies to protect and strengthen educational rights and opportunities.”
Another accolade for Clay Aiken!! Does he have a place in his home to display these distinguished awards??
Don’t forget, you can enlarge any of the pictures by clicking on them. The last visual has a lot of information which is nice to see and read.
Clay Aiken IS a special gift. Thank you for the article!!!
Clay Aiken deserves every award he recieves. He works tirelessly for all the causes he believes in and I’m so glad hes rewarded for his efforts.
Thank you for the reminder of this award. Clay Aien does so much that some of the things he has achieved get lost.
WOW! I don’t remember seeing these pics before! Thank you for the articled and the pics!
Clay Aiken is certainly an advocate for children with disabilities.
This was new for me. Clay Aiken deserves this as he is a tireless worker for those with disabilities.
Thanks for the memory. I love Clay Aiken’s passion for opening doors for children with disabilities.
Wow. Another great article.
Thanks for the blog. It’s nice to see Clay Aiken get recognized for some of his efforts on behalf of children!
I love that Clay gets recognized for all the good work he does with children, he so deserves it!!!
Thank you for this article.
Thanks for this. Clay deserves the recognition for all he does. Wish the general public was aware..they haven’t a clue.
Musicfan,
Thank you for recalling this great event on its two-year anniversary. What an honor for Clay Aiken!
Have an awesome week!
Caro
I remember this…I believe AI had their “AI gives Back”, had past idols on promoting their CD’s… I remember wondering why on earth was Clay not on there..??? He had just got back from Afghanistan… He was an Ambassador…
Then a day later, we found out that he had been awarded for this in NYC…
He is such a good and caring man, and to this day, he has kept his word on making a difference… Thank you again CANN for bringing this to our attention…. He has done so much in his 30 years…amazing…
Hugs,
Judy