Happy Birthday Special Olympics!

July 20, 2010 marked the 42^nd Birthday of the Special Olympics movement.    As I reflect today on my 20 plus year involvement with Special Olympics, I think back to Baton Rouge where I volunteered for the first time at the ’83 International Games.   I was attending LSU at the time and some friends asked me to help out in the first aid area.  It was July in Louisiana.  Need I say more?   Despite the heat, it was a great week and an experience I will never forget.   I left there with many new friends (some of which are still friends today) and a better understanding of the challenges and triumphs of those with intellectual disabilities.

Fast forward to 1990 when I began working for MTM Recognition. One of my first assignments was to go to Minnesota and work with the organizing committee of the ’91 International Games. It was all-hands- on- deck as we sent over 80 of our staff from Oklahoma to Minneapolis to merchandise the Games. It was then that MTM began to embrace the Special Olympics movement.

Over the past 20 years, MTM has enjoyed a partnership that spans the globe, as the official supplier of medals and ribbons for US programs and as a sponsor of the National and World Games awards.

This week I am in Lincoln, Nebraska at the 2010 USA National Games. It has been a great time visiting with many in the Special Olympics family and witnessing amazing celebrations of the human spirit, both in competition and on the awards stand.   I was honored to be a presenter of medals and ribbons at the Powerlifting awards ceremony on Monday.  At MTM we believe that “recognition lifts the human spirit” and I can’t think of a better example of this than through the smiles of a Special Olympics athlete!    

As the Games wind down this weekend, I will say goodbye to friends from all over the U.S. until the next Games bring us together again. Congratulations to all who competed at the 2010 Games and especially to our TEAM Oklahoma athletes. Walking into Opening Ceremonies with Team Oklahoma was certainly a highlight of my week here in Nebraska.   

Happy Birthday Special Olympics!  Thank you for allowing MTM Recognition to play a part in recognizing your champions for over two decades.