Special Olympics Team US Volleyball
Donation protected
My wife and I have been asked to attend the Summer Special Olympics World Games Los Angeles 2015 and serve as the United States Special Olympics World Games Volleyball team Counselor and Team Mentors/Parents. The Area 13 team based out of the Genesee Lapeer Counties and the Genesee Intermediate School District, Elmer Knopf Learning Center has been selected to be the one and the only Special Olympics Volleyball USA Team representing the United States of America in this event. This would be no different that United States “USA” Volleyball that will go to Brazil in 2016 that represents the hopes and dreams of all of America. This is an incredible honor. Our team will represent all Special Olympics Volleyball programs and teams in the United States of America in this world competition at the Pauley Pavilion on the campus of UCLA. There are over 500,000 Special Olympics athletics in the United States alone that participate in 32 sports. There are 4.4 million Special Olympics athletics worldwide. There are at least 116,397 Special Olympics athletics involved in Volleyball in the United States. These 13 Special Olympics athletics from Area 13 have been chosen as the United States Special Olympics Volleyball Team; most of these 13 athletics are between the age of 18 and 30 years old. They have never been away from home; most not only have the intellectual disabilities common with Special Olympics but also have mental health transition issues common within this population. These two often go hand in hand.
This experience will take them 2300 miles away from home for nearly 2 week; think about that for a moment what if you as a child or if you let your child (with an intellectual capacity of a 6 to 12 years old) go away from home and their familiar surroundings for 2 weeks without a mom and dad present. This is what these Special Olympics athletics and they have no idea what a big challenge to their emotional stability this will be. This is why it will be invaluable to have a Counselor and Team Mentors/Parents; someone with a life time of experiences and professional mental health therapist and educational counselor to assist them to process these events that they have never faces and do not have the cognitive capacity to understand. My wife has also worked with these Special Olympics athletics as part of an educational team and she is a gifted mentor having worked with most of them for the last 20 years as a coach, educator, mentor and mom. Yes many of these athletics have called my wife and me mom and dad for years. I wish I could say that this will be a fun trip for us but in truth I fully expect that it will be a real challenge to help keep these young people stable and focused. We will be dealing with issues of home sickness, anxiety, confusion, and likely feeling their oats for the first time in their lives without the emotional or cognitive capacity to do so. This is why Laurie and myself have been asked to go and be the team Counselor and Team Mentors/ Parents.
The 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games is a sporting event that will be held in Los Angeles on July 25 to August 2, 2015. It will be the first Special Olympics World Summer Games held in the United States in 16 years. LA 2015 marks the second time that the World Games will be hosted in Los Angeles. Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984. It was announced on September 15, 2011 that Los Angeles won its bid, beating out a bid from South Africa. It is expected that the games will attract about 30,000 volunteers. The Games will be a celebration of the talents, perseverance and achievements of those with intellectual disabilities, furthering the global mission of Special Olympics, founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
With 7,000 athletes representing more than 170 countries, along with 3,000 coaches, 30,000 volunteers and an anticipated 500,000 spectators, the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games being staged in Los Angeles July 25 through August 2, 2015 will be the largest sports/humanitarian event anywhere in the world this year and the biggest single event in Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympic Games. The 2015 World Summer Games, with the unparalleled spirit, enthusiasm, teamwork, hospitality and joy that are trademarks of all Special Olympics events, will feature 26 Olympic-style events in venues throughout the Los Angeles region following the Opening Ceremony in the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, site of the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games.
Special Olympics is an international organization that unleashes the human spirit through the transformative power and joy of sports everyday around the world. Through work in sports, health education and community building, Special Olympics is addressing inactivity, injustice, intolerance and social isolation by encouraging and empowering people with intellectual disabilities which leads to a more welcoming and inclusive society. Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the Special Olympics movement has grown from a few hundred athletes to nearly four million athletes in over 170 countries. With the support of more than one million coaches and volunteers, Special Olympics is able to deliver 32 Olympic-type sports and more than 53,000 competitions throughout the year.
The cost of flight tickets for 2 people will be around 1,000.00. Housing will be from what I found because of the Special Olympics World Games possibly 200.00+ per day for most any accommodations (we are not talking 4 or 5 stare here just a basic bed if we can find it for that that is nearly 2,400.00 for lodging. I have no idea then cost of food but in that area it may be 50+ per day or around 600.00. Our Special Olympics team has to raise around 60,000 for them to attend so there is no way that they could afford to help us but they have asked us to see if we can go because they need us. Then because of how this all plays out there will be the cost of transportation as well that could be 600.00 more.
We are not planning any special side trips or anything else and will only to be there to support the mental emotional state of our Special Olympics athletics. I am a mental health professional working for an inner city, private nonprofit mental health agency and my wife is a par-professional; we do not make much money. We do not waste money and have not even taken a vacation in 10 years. I need you to understand that this is by no means a vacation trip; this is a services trip and we cannot go without your help. If by chance any money over what are needed for these expenses are donated, they will be given back to the Area 13 Special Olympics program. Because I do not yet know when we will be able to get flight tickets or lodging or goal will be to raise between 5,000.00 and 6,500.00 for this true services trip opportunity to assist in the stability of our intellectual challenged common with Special Olympics athletics on the United States Special Olympics World Games "Team USA" Volleyball Team.
Will you help us reach this goal.
Thank You
Dale and Laurie Potter
This experience will take them 2300 miles away from home for nearly 2 week; think about that for a moment what if you as a child or if you let your child (with an intellectual capacity of a 6 to 12 years old) go away from home and their familiar surroundings for 2 weeks without a mom and dad present. This is what these Special Olympics athletics and they have no idea what a big challenge to their emotional stability this will be. This is why it will be invaluable to have a Counselor and Team Mentors/Parents; someone with a life time of experiences and professional mental health therapist and educational counselor to assist them to process these events that they have never faces and do not have the cognitive capacity to understand. My wife has also worked with these Special Olympics athletics as part of an educational team and she is a gifted mentor having worked with most of them for the last 20 years as a coach, educator, mentor and mom. Yes many of these athletics have called my wife and me mom and dad for years. I wish I could say that this will be a fun trip for us but in truth I fully expect that it will be a real challenge to help keep these young people stable and focused. We will be dealing with issues of home sickness, anxiety, confusion, and likely feeling their oats for the first time in their lives without the emotional or cognitive capacity to do so. This is why Laurie and myself have been asked to go and be the team Counselor and Team Mentors/ Parents.
The 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games is a sporting event that will be held in Los Angeles on July 25 to August 2, 2015. It will be the first Special Olympics World Summer Games held in the United States in 16 years. LA 2015 marks the second time that the World Games will be hosted in Los Angeles. Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984. It was announced on September 15, 2011 that Los Angeles won its bid, beating out a bid from South Africa. It is expected that the games will attract about 30,000 volunteers. The Games will be a celebration of the talents, perseverance and achievements of those with intellectual disabilities, furthering the global mission of Special Olympics, founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
With 7,000 athletes representing more than 170 countries, along with 3,000 coaches, 30,000 volunteers and an anticipated 500,000 spectators, the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games being staged in Los Angeles July 25 through August 2, 2015 will be the largest sports/humanitarian event anywhere in the world this year and the biggest single event in Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympic Games. The 2015 World Summer Games, with the unparalleled spirit, enthusiasm, teamwork, hospitality and joy that are trademarks of all Special Olympics events, will feature 26 Olympic-style events in venues throughout the Los Angeles region following the Opening Ceremony in the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, site of the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games.
Special Olympics is an international organization that unleashes the human spirit through the transformative power and joy of sports everyday around the world. Through work in sports, health education and community building, Special Olympics is addressing inactivity, injustice, intolerance and social isolation by encouraging and empowering people with intellectual disabilities which leads to a more welcoming and inclusive society. Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the Special Olympics movement has grown from a few hundred athletes to nearly four million athletes in over 170 countries. With the support of more than one million coaches and volunteers, Special Olympics is able to deliver 32 Olympic-type sports and more than 53,000 competitions throughout the year.
The cost of flight tickets for 2 people will be around 1,000.00. Housing will be from what I found because of the Special Olympics World Games possibly 200.00+ per day for most any accommodations (we are not talking 4 or 5 stare here just a basic bed if we can find it for that that is nearly 2,400.00 for lodging. I have no idea then cost of food but in that area it may be 50+ per day or around 600.00. Our Special Olympics team has to raise around 60,000 for them to attend so there is no way that they could afford to help us but they have asked us to see if we can go because they need us. Then because of how this all plays out there will be the cost of transportation as well that could be 600.00 more.
We are not planning any special side trips or anything else and will only to be there to support the mental emotional state of our Special Olympics athletics. I am a mental health professional working for an inner city, private nonprofit mental health agency and my wife is a par-professional; we do not make much money. We do not waste money and have not even taken a vacation in 10 years. I need you to understand that this is by no means a vacation trip; this is a services trip and we cannot go without your help. If by chance any money over what are needed for these expenses are donated, they will be given back to the Area 13 Special Olympics program. Because I do not yet know when we will be able to get flight tickets or lodging or goal will be to raise between 5,000.00 and 6,500.00 for this true services trip opportunity to assist in the stability of our intellectual challenged common with Special Olympics athletics on the United States Special Olympics World Games "Team USA" Volleyball Team.
Will you help us reach this goal.
Thank You
Dale and Laurie Potter
Organizer
Dale James Potter
Organizer
Flint, MI