After two years of hiatus due to COVID-19, we finally put together a 10-week bowling program for this year, and today was the last day of the Special Olympics Bowling season. The event was held every Tuesday over a 10-week period at Southwest Bowling Center in Urbana. We had over 50 bowlers participating this year, with the majority showing up every week. Everyone was so excited to see their friends again and to enjoy bowling with them.
This event could not have been so successful without the help from the following volunteers and supporters, so a big thank you to:
Board of DD – Jenny White and Mark Glunt for helping with the bowlers and providing transportation when needed.
Sertell Chiropractic who donated $2,000 to Special Olympics. This helped the cost go way down for every bowler this year.
Southwest Bowling Center, who supported the bowlers and the many changes we had to make every week to lane assignments and whose employees knew everybody’s shoe size by the end of the season!
Jac-N-Do’s Pizza who gave us a special discount for the pizzas for the end of the season Pizza Party!
T-shirt Stop. Thank you, Kurt, for turning the t-shirt order around in record time for a very reasonable price!
The amazing parents that helped by donating the money for the t-shirts and for donating supplies for the Pizza Party.
Special Olympics Committee for being so supportive of the athletes and the coach and sponsoring the Pizza Party.
Our Volunteers without whom the whole operation would be vastly more difficult: Peytan Schwierking, Brian Walker, Garnet Freytag and Amy Burchnell.
Providers from the following organizations: Creative Foundations, CRSI, Downsize Farms as well as some of our Independent Providers, and especially to the parents, grandparents, and other family members for helping their bowlers. This physical support allows everyone to enjoy the sport to the best of their ability and to have fun.
It really takes a village, and I am so grateful for the all the help and support we received, so thank you for supporting Special Olympics Bowling and our bowlers, and I hope to see you all again next year.
Champaign County Special Olympics sponsors several other sports, such as weightlifting, basketball, cheerleading (non-competitive), volleyball, and track. Most of these have far fewer participants. If you would like to volunteer to help coach or support the coaches for any of these sports, please contact Alfredo Gutierrez at [email protected].
