Support from the Flames

Liberty Athletics Teams Up with Special Olympics

This fall, Liberty Athletics will become the first collegiate program in the nation to officially endorse the international "Spread the Word to End the Word Campaign.”

By Holly Claytor

This fall, Liberty Athletics will become the first collegiate program in the nation to officially endorse the international "Spread the Word to End the Word Campaign," which asks people to eliminate the demeaning use of the word "retard." Liberty kicked off the promotion Aug. 25 at its annual Student-Athlete Barbeque, when football players Matt Camire, who first approached the athletics department about the idea, and quarterback Mike Brown, challenged their fellow student athletes to "lead by example" and sign the R-Word pledge. To date, more than 270 Liberty student-athletes have signed the pledge, and more are joining the campaign each day.

Liberty Invites Special Olympics to campus for “Day with the Flames” Saturday

This Saturday, Liberty will take its support to new heights when it welcomes Special Olympics athletes from around the Piedmont Region for the first "Day with the Flames." Athletes will spend time at a women's volleyball game, a volleyball clinic and their very own tailgate, compliments of Liberty Catering, before ending the day with a Flames football game at the grand re-opening of Williams Stadium.

Liberty student-athletes also plan to hand out R-Word pledge cards to the weekend's visitors and spectators. They won't stop "spreading the word" after this weekend, though. In addition to handing out pledge cards throughout the year, they plan to recognize Special Olympics at an upcoming basketball game, and once again host the Liberty Polar Plunge Festival in February. At this year's plunge, "Spread the Word to End the Word" and "Respect" will be two of the event themes.

Coverage on WSET

Click the link above to view an amazing story that reporter, Lauren Compton, and WSET ABC Channel 13, did on the Flames’ “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign.

Thank you Flames

"Liberty University and its Athletics Department have taken an active role in supporting our Special Olympics athletes here in Lynchburg," said Special Olympics Virginia Piedmont Region Director Josh Walker. "It is a testament to their student-athletes and their leadership that they are embracing ‘Spread the Word to End the Word,' and it is only fitting that they are serving as examples to the rest of NCAA. We cannot thank them enough for their support."

For more information about Liberty's "Spread the Word" support, please contact Josh Walker at jwalker@specialolympicsva.org or 434-582-4712. To take the Special Olympics Virginia "R" word pledge, visit www.specialolympicsva.org/rword.

A Great Weekend for Fundraising!

Farmville and Charlotte County Special Olympics, both held successful fundraisers, last weekend

Farmville Special Olympics poses for a group photo during their 3^rd Annual Special Bikers for Special Olympics fundraiser. Thank you Cruiser Club 30!

Who doesn’t like to dance to “Summer Loving” or “Greased Lightning”? Charlotte County Special Olympics sure does. Thank you to everyone who turned out to support their Sock Hop fundraiser.

Friends of SOVA Section

This weekend, Liberty Catering, will be providing 100 boxed lunches for our athletes to eat during their Day with the Flames tailgate. Because of their generosity and the inclusive hiring practice of Liberty Dining, we are highlighting SODEXO - FLAVOURS (LIBERTY CATERING) and THE NORTH CAMPUS CAFÉ.

Not only will Flavours be catering the Day with the Flames, this weekend, but they have already committed to donating beverages to the Polar Plunge at Liberty, in February 2011. However, we would be remiss if we did not mention the North Campus Café. They are known for hiring people with disabilities, and any business that is willing to hire our athletes is a friend of ours. Thank you Flavours and the North Campus Café!

Check out the Flavours website here: http://www.flavoursevents.com

Social Networking and Special Olympics

Social Networking and Special Olympics

The future for non profits is online, and the Piedmont Region is ready.

 

You can’t escape it. Everywhere you go people are talking about social media sites. You know what I’m talking about. Your friends are constantly updating their Facebook status. You turn on the TV to watch the news or your favorite sporting event, and they are taking instant surveys via Twitter. Online blogs, on sites like BlogSpot, are quickly gaining more attention than newspapers. You would think that you could escape this social media blitz at work, but even there, your coworkers are probably sending you invitations to join their professional network on LinkedIn. And if you’re like me, no day is complete without watching at least one funny YouTube video. It is the world we live in now, and there is no avoiding it.

That’s why Special Olympics in the Piedmont Region, is diving head first into the social media scene. In the next few weeks, several of the Special Olympics programs in your area will be establishing Facebook pages and weekly online newsletters. They will have regularly updated news pages, and some programs will also be using Twitter and BlogSpot as well. They will post everything from news stories and competition updates to practice cancellations and fundraising announcements. It is all in an effort to keep you, our volunteers and the community at large, up to date about the amazing things that our athletes are accomplishing. Communication with the public is one of the most important things that our local programs can do to be successful, and to accomplish this, we are about to go viral!

Be on the lookout for more information in the coming weeks…

For those of you already on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or BlogSpot, please follow the Piedmont Region by clicking the links below. (For those of you who are not, we encourage you to sign up.)

www.facebook.com/specialolympicsvapiedmontregion

http://twitter.com/SOVAPiedmont

http://www.youtube.com/SOVAPiedmont
http://sovapiedmont.blogspot.com/

 Lynchburg College Student and Piedmont Region Volunteer Going OVER THE EDGE for Special Olympics Virginia

We don’t often highlight individual fundraising efforts in this newsletter, but when a local college student takes it upon herself to raise $1,000, drive to Richmond, and rappel off of a 25 story building, all for our Special Olympics athletes, well… we figured that you would want to hear about it.

Megan Hunt is a Special Education student at Lynchburg College, who has become actively involved with Special Olympics Virginia. I first met Megan when I went to talk to her class last fall. Since that time she has volunteered at local Special Olympics events, attended the 2010 Volunteer Conference, and now she is going Over The Edge for Special Olympics Virginia. Please support her efforts by clicking this link. www.firstgiving.com/meganhunt1

Great job, Megan!

Support the Arc of Central VA at Their Upcoming Book Sales

Book Sale -SAVE THE DATES

October 1^st  8:00a.m – 7:00p.m

October 2^nd  9:00a.m – 2:00p.m.

The Arc's "Bookworm Book Sale" will be held on Friday, October 1^st, and Saturday, October 2^nd .  Rooms will be filled with lots of tempting used books, and some of them are real treasures.  Come, bring your friends, browse, and purchase reading materials for all of the coming months. In addition to over fifty categories of books, there will be a Silent Auction of rare and coveted books, as well as story times for children.  What an easy way to support The Arc! More details will be available on The Arc's website (www.arcofcva.org).

For more information, please contact:

Connie Blackwell

Director of Operations and Development

The Arc of Central Virginia

1508 Bedford Ave

Lynchburg, VA 24504

CBlackwell@arcofcva.org

Friends of SOVA Section In light of today’s focus on social media, we are highlighting RIOT SPORTS MARKETING. It’s time to start a RIOT in the Piedmont Region!  Several programs, in the Piedmont Region, will be using the Riot System to update their Facebook, Twitter, and news pages during the upcoming year. Founder, Jim Harshaw, started Riot Sports Marketing to help high school, college, and non profit athletic programs use social media to market themselves. Now, they are giving generous discounts to Special Olympics programs who want to effectively enter the social media scene. Thank you RIOT! Check out the Riot website here: http://www.riotsportspromotions.com

Fall is Here!

Fall is Here!

Athletes around the state are gearing up for another year of Special Olympics excitement.

Ok, so technically fall is still a few weeks away, but that hasn’t stopped athletes all over the Piedmont Region from hitting the practice fields to sharpen their skills. In Lynchburg they’re hard at work, practicing their sets and spikes on the volleyball court. In Charlotte County, Halifax, and South Boston, they’re busy dribbling the soccer ball up and down the practice fields. In Farmville, bowling is about to start and National Games gold medal winner, Christine Beuchling, is already refining her bocce technique. And in Danville, longtime bowling coach, Charlene Pressley, is getting ready to start practice for over 100 bowlers, once October rolls around.

As you can see, fall is a very exciting time in the Piedmont Region. Let me fill you in on some of the exciting things that have been going on.

Area 24 Athletes Thank our Friends at the VMA

Area 24 Athletes pose for a picture at the Virginia Moose Association Golf Tournament

Some of our biggest supporters at Special Olympics Virginia are our friends at the Virginia Moose Association. So it was only fitting, that when they held their annual golf tournament to raise money for our athletes on August 14, we were there to thank them for their efforts. Not only did our athletes thank the Moose Association and the golfers, but, as you can see from the pictures above, they got to meet some pretty cool celebrities as well.

Thank You Joni and Dale!

Two long time Special Olympics coordinators are moving on from their positions, and we all owe them a great deal of thanks for their service to our athletes.

Area 7 Coordinator, Joni Yoder, has recently resigned her position as coordinator, and in a short time she will be relocating to the Winston-Salem area to work with Habitat for Humanity. Joni has been a staple in the Danville Special Olympics program, and she has done a great job overseeing all of our athletes in Area 7. In addition to her work with Special Olympics, Joni also served as the Financial Administrator for the Danville Arc and its related programs. Amanda Tickle, an employee of the White Oak School (also affiliated with the Danville ARC), will take over as coordinator. We are very sad to see Joni go, but we are excited to have Amanda on board.

Also stepping down is longtime Area 24, Campbell County Coordinator, Sheila “Dale” Wilson. Dale and her husband, Burnie, have been a driving force behind Special Olympics in Campbell County for decades. Their son, Brian, is active basketball player, swimmer, and track athlete. Dale is employed by the ARC of Central VA, in Lynchburg. We are very sad to see her go, but we thank her for all of her time and dedication to our athletes. Karl Koenig (husband of former Area 24 Coordinator, Dana Koenig), will be taking over as Campbell County Coordinator, and we are excited to work with him as well.

If you see Joni or Dale over the coming months, please take the time to thank them for their dedicated service to Special Olympics Virginia. Thank you ladies!

NEW: Friends of SOVA Section

This is a new feature that we are adding to the newsletter. There are a lot of businesses and organizations that support Special Olympics around the Piedmont Region. Some support our athletes financially. Some support them by volunteering at events and competitions. There are also businesses who support our athletes by hiring them and giving them a chance to show how valuable they can be in the work force. This section is our attempt to thank those businesses for their support.

And the first business to be highlighted is…our friends at SHEETZ! Who likes MTOs?

On Wednesday, September 1, Sheetz opened a brand new store in Forest, Va. At that grand opening, they presented Special Olympics Virginia with a check for $2,500. Global Messenger, Leroy Mickens, was on hand to accept the check from company Vice President of Operations, Travis Sheetz. Sheetz has long been a valuable partner of Special Olympics Virginia, and Special Olympics has recently been named their primary philanthropy. We look forward to an even more exciting relationship with Sheetz in the future.