Heart Touchers

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*Always Hope* 1/4/02

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THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE

By Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.

Yesterday I purchased a 'Hope Chest' for my
Granddaughter, Chelsey. My wife, Judy had been on
me for quiet some time to try and build one so
that Chelsey would have a place to keep her special
momentos. Not as young and active as I once was
I decided to purchase a cedar chest. After we got the
chest home I took down an old cardboard box which
I had been using to store things in that I thought she
might like to have when she got older. Near the bottom
of the box was the first draft of my book "Orphan". It was
about twenty years old and I started to thumb through
the pages to see what all I had hand written along the borders.

In one section I happened across a page where I had written
about inviting a group of handicapped children to spend
several hours at my TrampolineOne center. I remember
telephoning the school and suggesting that they bring the
children out to the center for several hours at no charge.
As I did not open the center until 11:00 am. It was agreed that
they would bring the children out at about 9:00 am. That
would give them about two hours of jump time.

Well, the children came in several large busses. They
were loaded into their wheel chairs and rolled into the
center. That was an experience that I will never forget.
Fifteen or twenty children which looked somewhat like
little zombies. Not a sound and not much movement
coming from any of them.

I had twelve trampolines which were all built ground
level. Soon there was a motionless child lying on
each of the trampolines. They just laid there not
moving a muscle. Some were missing arms and
some legs. Some were not missing any limps at
all. Still they just sat and laid there motionless and silent.

"ALL RIGHT. LET'S TRY AND HOLD DOWN ON THE
NOISE OUT THERE," I said over the microphone.

Several of the teachers laughed and continued to walk
around the area. Still none of the handicapped children
moved a muscle, Not one made a sound. I walked out
of the booth and I took my shoes off. I walked up to
'TrampolineOne number one' and I walked out onto the
mat where a child was laying. I stood over his head and
I gave a little bounce. Just enough for the child to be
bounced off the mat about an inch or two. All
at once the child screamed and began to laugh
uncontrollably. All the teachers came running over
to the trampoline to see what had happened. I was
told by one of the teachers that the child on TrampolineOne
number one had never spoken a word or even made a
sound his entire life. The remainder of the time was spent
with the teachers standing over the children and gently
bouncing them from one side of the trampoline to the
other. All you could hear was the sound of children
screaming and laughing at the top of their little voices,
as though they were on a roller-coaster ride to hell.

When time was up and the children were taken off the
trampolines the sounds that the children were making
where not those of crying, but of wailing.

There were many happy drolling little distorted faces
leaving that day. There were bouncing little heads, and
arms and legs. Whatever could possibly be moved was
now moving. What I remember most from that experience
is that I had always thought that I was just too busy to take
the time to do something important for someone else. I
guess that was a day that I found a way to do something
important for someone else in the world. Not during
my "busy time" but during my own 'private time'. And
we all have just a little of that which we could share with
the world if we really wanted to.

Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.

trampolineone@webtv.net

Write Roger and let him know your thoughts on his story!
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The Sad Orphan Web Site
http://www.geocities.com/trampolineone/

Roger and his wife, Judy, also a writer, live in Brunswick,
Georgia. As a child Roger was raised in a very abusive
orphanage located in Jacksonville Florida. He has written a
book titled "Orphan" which tells of the horrors that he and
other children suffered daily, for more than ten years.

His book is in all major bookstores and available
through his web site/link, for purchase. He now writes and
speaks to children in the Georgia School system about child
abuse and its effects.

In the last two years Roger has developed one of the most
read child abuse web sites in the world, "The Sad Orphan"
located at: http://www.geocities.com/trampolineone
which displays many of his short stories.

You can purchase Roger's book, "ORPHAN"
in major book stores or order from Amazon.com at:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1580624480/o/qid=975333679/sr=8-1/straighfromthe0a/107-5931457-7011735

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If you missed the interview we did with Roger, you can check it out at our
web site at this link:

http://www.HeartTouchers.com/roger_dean_kiser_sr_/

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Thought For The Day:

"The measure of a person is not what he or she does on Sunday, but rather
who they are Monday through Saturday"

Verse for the Day:

"...that you may live worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing
fruit in every good work." -- Colossians 1:10

Toddler's Thought For The Day:

"If it is closed, it must be opened. If it does not open, it must be screamed at."

Parent's Thought For The Day:

"You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll
turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes." --Walter Schirra Sr.

Coach's Thought For The Day:

"For an athlete to function properly, he must be intent. There has to be a definite purpose and goal if you are to progress. If you are not intent about what you are doing, you aren't able to resist the temptation to do something else that might be more fun at the moment." -- John Wooden

Writer's Thought For the Day:

"Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the
possible exception of wrestling alligators." --Olin Miller

Deep Thought For The Day:

"Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he just
whipped out a quarter?"

_
/_/\/\    MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\ /    HeartTouchers@aol.com
/_/ \    "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no
\_\/\ \   longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I
\_\/   live in the body I live for the Son of God, who
   loved me and gave Himself for me."
   Galatians 2:20
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Video Imagery --Michael's Video Production Business

"I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch
the video we gave them. They loved it, to say the
least! Within thirty seconds my mom was crying
and my dad did too. They said it was the best
Christmas gift we could have given them!! You
did such a beautiful job! They were so surprised
and so touched--they really, really, really loved it.
Thanks for helping to make it so special to us all.
My mom mentioned how the songs were perfect
for the video too! Thanks again!"
Kelli-- College Station, TX

Let me make you a video from your pictures or
home movies! Check out the web page for Michael's
video production business! Visit:

http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery/

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Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you?
http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm

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Happy Holidays from HeartTouchers.com

From now on we will be offering our book,
Straight From the Heart "A Celebration of Life" for
only $13 (instead of the regular price of $14.95), and
best of all, we will pay the shipping! So if you have
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Michael T. Powers
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Straight From the Heart: A Celebration of Life