Special Olympics Raises Over $4,000 for 40th Anniversary
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Jordan Fouts-
Special Olympics of Kosciusko County raised $4,715 at its 40th anniversary celebration Sunday. The money came from meal ticket sales, auctions and merchandise, including an anniversary album featuring pictures going back to 1973. About 300 athletes, family members and friends attended the event. The money will be used to send the 130 athletes in the county to events across the state, or just treat them to a meal sometime. “We were pleasantly surprised, it’s a nice amount,” county Treasurer Judy Weidner said. “We raised a little more than we thought. We might have this again next year.” The biggest-ticket item was a quilt made of event T-shirts, which sold for $600. It will be displayed at Special Olympics sponsors in the area, according to County Coordinator Becky Walls. Walls’ mother, county founder Maxine Burcham, kept a journal of the first trip, which took seven athletes to a swim meet. Committee member Marti Thompson used pages of the journal, along with old photos, to put together a 40-page scrapbook. “Swimming was all they had then,” Thompson said. She pointed out the thank-you note athletes and volunteers gave Burcham, and noted that a few of the original athletes are still in the program. Steve Degaetano, a volunteer attending the event, has been with the program for three years. His son, Anthony, participates in bowling, basketball, football and track and field. “I like that he can participate in athletic events he would never be able to participate in otherwise,” Degaetano said. “He’s pretty competitive with the people he plays with.” Anthony also enjoys basketball, and his dad recalled a day the athletes got to practice in the Orthopaedic Capital Center at Grace College. “I thought that was the greatest thing that could happen to those kids,” he said.
