Donators Thank You Party

A weekend to thank all the individuals who donated to our cause and athletes this last year was held at the A/C Lounge and the turnout was terrific.

We even got more donations which was not expected and the athletes extremely enjoyed the entertainment provided by our DJ.

Happy Holidays everyone and Thank you to everyone who looked into their hearts and donated to a cause like Special Olympics which is a great cause.

And here is a quick video of the entertainment we were blessed with.

Benefit Holiday Concert

Our Holiday benefit concert for Special Olympics athletes was a success we had over 150 people present and all our silent auction swag was bided on and won.

The performers for the night delivered an unforgettable set and everyone complemented the bands performances.

The best gift of the night could be a Shawn Merriman signed jersey or a painting by Joan Amber:

We raised over $3,000 dollars for our athletes and could not have asked for a better crowd.

These moments and events are the ones that make you truly realize how good people are and what they are willing to do for the right cause.

San Diego Chargers Weekend

After a week of hard work the San Diego chapter was invited to a Chargers game to receive a donation and have a couple athletes perform their sports at half time. The involvement with local franchises, colleges and universities has been on the increase and is extremely appreciated.

The athletes had a great time and our Special Olympic team had a great experience.

Good Luck to the Chargers on the rest of the season and Happy Holidays!!

Fan Page's

EKS Program

Special Olympics will be posting fan pages of athletes and their coaches from this years fall games. The pages will include a quick overview of the athlete or coach from your region and a quick synopsis on how they got into special olympics and what makes their story a little different than most. Until I get the link from Brian for the fall games in San Diego which I conducted here is a link to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Fellowship Program Slide Show, which was put together by Special Olympics.

EKS Fellowship Program

Messengers For Change

Which includes leaders in the sports world, entertainment, business, and politics use their unique skills to help Special Olympics and we recently put together a slide show of some examples of what these individuals are doing to help further the support of our athletes.

Messengers

Bank of America Local Hero Award

Thank you to, Sergeant Kevin Lehan for his outstanding work in our Law Enforcement Torch Run. He recently received the Bank of America Local Hero Award for his outstanding service over the past four years. When not contributing by raising funds, he can be found at Special Olympics competitions cheering on our athletes and presenting medals. We were awarded a $5,000 grant in his honor and greatly appreciate it.

Changing Lives

More than an Event

Special Olympics encompasses sports, health, education and inclusion opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. During any given day, an average of 80 Special Olympics competitions are held in around the world.

Why Donate To Special Olympics?

http://www.specialolympics.org/slideshow_why_donate.aspx

Project Unify

Project UNIFY's goal is to activate young people to develop school communities where all young people are agents of change — fostering respect, dignity and advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities by utilizing the programs and initiatives of Special Olympics.

What is Project UNIFY?
Project UNIFY is a U.S. national project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Its goal is to activate young people around the country in an effort to develop school communities where all young people are agents of change — fostering respect, dignity and advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities by utilizing the programs and initiatives of Special Olympics.

Project UNIFY initiatives include a host of core activities, both on the national and the grass-roots level. Local projects that meet Project UNIFY objectives are supported through grants for local Special Olympics Programs.

Contact Project UNIFY at youth@specialolympics.org

Nebraska Offense Stuck In Neutral

Bo Pelini says the Nebraska Offense needs a spark after the 9-7 loss to Iowa State.

“The offense needs a spark,” Pelini said. “And where that spark comes from, that's up to us to determine. That can come from a lot of different areas.

“I can say this: We need to light a fire under it. Somebody needs to step up and make plays.”

With 7 turnovers in the game we should have been completely blown out of the game but the team was able to stay close and still have a shot to win till the end. Iowa State is not in a year or a quality enough team that we should loose but we need to take a look at our offensive scheme and figure out where to go the rest of the year.

A Population of Neglect

People with intellectual disabilities are every society's most neglected population. Nearly 200 million people, or three percent of the world's population, have an intellectual disability, making it the largest disability population in the world.

This video is a 3 minute piece me and the communications department of special olympics put together take a look and comment on feelings, opinions, or criticism about the video.

http://www.specialolympics.org/slideshow_neglect.aspx

Channel 10 News Leadership Award Winner

Recent winner of abc channel 10 News Leadership Award....Coach Tony Rubino. Congratulations Tony and thanks for all your hard work, dedication and time.

Check out the segment at this link:

http://www.10news.com/leadershipaward/index.html

Special Olympics Fall Games

Saturdays Fall Games will be held at the Rancho Bernardo Rec. Center and will include 11 teams from around the SD area competing in volleyball, soccer, and softball.

All participants will receive an award for participating.

I will be posting video for the fan pages after the Fall Games of unique stories from the athletes in special olympics around the SD area and you will be able to connect with the athletes on a personal level and learn the struggles they have gone through to get where they are.

Coke and the special olympics

Find Forty Friends for Special Olympics

Find Forty Fans

In honor of Special Olympics Southern California’s 40th Anniversary we are asking all of our volunteers, athletes, supporters, friends and family members to each find 40 Fans of Special Olympics.

Fans are those people who are willing to support Special Olympics by making a monetary donation to the organization who has provided a service to individuals with intellectual disabilities for 40 years. The three individuals who bring in the most total money will receive a prize at the Forty Fans Fiesta in June. (Date and location TBD.) If you can find more than 40 Fans, that’s even better! The people that raise the most money will get a great prize so don’t stop at 40 Fans!

All proceeds will go directly to Special Olympics San Diego County programs, athletes and competitions.

Click here for your printable flyer

Help Special Olympics

Ok friends its time to help my organization and its is the easiest money you will ever donate to a good cause.

Help Special Olympics While You Shop

Simply go to www.escrip.com, enter your Vons or Ralphs Membership Card Number
and a portion of your purchases will go directly back to Special Olympics! It's that simple!

Register here!

To locate the Special Olympics account search by Group ID (148993827). Escrip
will guide you through the rest of the
process. Now you can raise money for
Special Olympics simply by doing your
normal shopping!

Let me know if you help out!

Special Olympics @ Belly Up

Sat, Oct 10th

SoulRayeDanielle Lo Presti

4:00 PM Doors at 3:00 PM

$15.00

INSPIRE – a Benefit Concert for Special Olympics San Diego County

Pelini News Conference

Bo says the huskers are not were they want to be yet....we have gone 0-10 against ranked teams in the last 5 years.

We definitly are headed in the right direction but will it be this year or take another year of recruiting to get what we need?

If you think about it, its only our third game of the year if we played Virginia Tech later in the season, the outcome would have been different we had our opportunities and we did what we needed to do to make Tyrod Taylor one dimentional but in the end we just didnt get our offense going enough to take the game over.

Check out the Monday News Conference: http://www.omaha.com/section/NEWS01

Special Olympics Torch Run

Special Olympics Officer Torch Run has come and past, now on to the Long Beach Marathon Oct. 11. Chief Roberta Abner, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said:

"I am proud to serve as the Law Enforcement Torch Run Director for Special Olympics Southern California. This year, law enforcement officers throughout Southern California raised a record $900,000 for Special Olympics, which will ensure the athletes receive the best sports training and competition possible."

The torch run which began in 1981 in Wichita, Kansas has grown to include more than 100 separate runs in over 35 countries. The event is extremely beneficial to the Special Olympics which is a non-profit organization and I believe will continue to grow.

Lets get the word out and start contributing to the Special Olympics.