Sporting A Cause

Tag Archives: Special Olympics

Penguin Plunge 2021

The Penguin Plunge, which in past has been held in March at Highland Lake in Winsted, CT, will be held again this year in some form.

As organizers put it, “more information coming soon”.

The event benefits Special Olympics , Connecticut.

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Polar Plunge Massachusetts Virtual for 2021

The Polar Plunge Massachusetts events have gone virtual and will be held over a six-week span, February 20 through March 28, 2021.

Here is what Special Olympics has to say:

“We are excited to bring you a brand new 2021 Polar Plunge Season aimed to offer everything you love about the Plunge, while encouraging you to plunge safely wherever you are. The 2021 Plunge Season will kick off on February 20, 2021 and close on March 28, 2021 — with six Plunge Weekends in between!

You’ll still be able to:

  • Plunge with a team or on your own, and raise much-needed funds for local Special Olympics athletes in your community 
  • Compete for Best Costume, Top Fundraiser, and more.
  • Access ​plenty of fundraising tips, tricks, and prize incentivesto help you get to your goal.

What’s new in 2021?

This year you’ll be able to choose where you plunge, how you plunge, and how often you plunge! We’ll also be sharing some awesome digital Plunge stories and videos throughout the fall and winter — be sure to check back here for opportunities to see, share, and be a part of that content!

Our goal: 10,000 Plungers

We’re recruiting everyone from your siblings to your neighbors to your coworkers to your local school. Spread the word and get everyone you know registered! Help us reach our 10,000 plunger goal to continue to spread the mission of Special Olympics far and wide.

Join us for our 2021 Plunge Season

Plunge individually or safely and distanced with your team. Plunge anywhere and anytime!

Choose your Plunge From Anywhere Weekend*:

*While we outline Plunge from Anywhere weekends, we understand that these time frames may not work for all. If you want to plunge on a Tuesday in the middle of the day, go for it! Whatever you do, just let us know below when you decide to plunge! Our first Polar Plunge weekend is February 20th and our last is March 27th.”

To sign up or find more information about the 2021 version of the Massachusetts Polar Plunge visit polarplungema.org.

Proceeds from the event will benefit Special Olympics Massachusetts. To learn more, visit specialolympicsma.org.

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Ideas for Another Kind of Gift

 

Tis the giving season, is it not? If you’ve already completed your shopping list for the usual suspects and have a few bucks left over to spread additional cheer, here are some gift ideas of the non- profit kind.

Love animals? The Little Guild in West Cornwall, CT https://www.littleguild.org/ rescues homeless dogs and cats and finds loving homes for them. A donation of $25 will buy a one-day supply of food for all of their animals; $50 vaccinates one animal for a year or helps pay the cost to spay a cat ($150) or neuter a dog ($300). Or maybe adopt a pet…

Who isn’t moved by the notion of a child at risk? Berkshire County Kids Place https://www.kidsplaceonline.org/ in Pittsfield, MA picks up the pieces of children damaged by sexual and domestic violence and makes them whole. When a child comes in for a therapy session they get a snack first. $10 buys all of the kids snacks for a week. $50 covers most of a private therapy session for a child. Usually it takes 12 – 24 sessions per child.

Continuing the focus on children, Brooker Memorial https://www.brookermemorial.org/ in Torrington, CT provides early learning, child care, pediatric dental care and child therapy for youngsters in need. $25 will buy a week’s supply of healthy snacks for 10 kids or dental screening for one child. $50 will provide one month of art supplies for two classrooms or a dental cleaning for one child.

Adopt-a-Family in Millerton, NY cares about the young ones too. Headquartered at Moore & More Printing ( 518 789-4508), Stacey Moore and her large band of helpers provide clothing and toys (non-electronic) to some 300 kids up to age 13. Each child gets a winter coat, boots and three toys. A $50 or $100  donation will put a big dent in that per child cost.

Hunger may be our greatest scourge. Gratefully, there are many non- profits dedicated to feeding our residents-in-need. One of them is the Sunday In The Country Food Drive http://sundayinthecountryfooddrive.com/. They are based in Millerton, NY, but they serve 18 towns throughout the Tri-State area. They provide Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to over 300 families. A $25 gift will provide a family of six with a complete holiday dinner including a 14-16 pound turkey.

Special Olympics is one of the most beloved of international charities. It allows children and adults with intellectual challenges to participate in and succeed in 26 different sports throughout the year. And the “United Sports” program partners challenged athletes with non-challenged high schoolers to compete together. Everyone wins. a $30 donation buys a basketball. If you care to give on the installment plan, $15 a month funds year round sports activities for three athletes. Each state manages its own programs. Connecticut https://www.soct.org/; Massachusetts https://www.specialolympicsma.org/ and New York https://www.specialolympics-ny.org/ .  A $65 donation will earn you a Special Olympics tree ornament.

Robin Hood Radio’s http://www.robinhoodradio.com/ home is in Sharon, CT, and it serves the Tri-State region. It is an NPR station providing local and national news and entertainment as well as providing  public service announcements about non-profit activities throughout the year. Robin Hood Radio is a non-profit that needs our support. A $25 or $50 donation would help pay for stringers who report local news or help support an emergency fund take care of equipment failures, among many other expenses.

The Jane Lloyd Fund https://www.thejanelloydfund.org/ provides financial help for cancer patients in the Northwest Corner by paying their living expenses while they concentrate on healing. A $50 donation could cover a tank of gas to drive to treatments, or pay for part of an electric bill or a piece of a mortgage payment. No donation is too small.

Housatonic Youth Service Bureau (HYSB) https://hysb.org/ . Counselors at HYSB offer free counseling to youngsters in Region 1 in Connecticut addressing a broad array of emotional needs from depression and anxiety to avoiding school, and support children and families coping with personal or economic crises, emotional or physical neglect, trauma, substance abuse and more. A $50 donation to HYSB will pay for one counseling session.

The Salisbury Winter Sports Association (SWSA) http://www.jumpfest.org/ in Salisbury Connecticut has been teaching youngsters to ski – cross country, downhill and jumping for 94 years. They provide skiing scholarships for four area grade school downhill programs and maintain  20, 30 and 70 meter jumps at their Satre Hill facilities as well as host the annual Eastern Ski Jumping Championships. A $50 donation to SWSA will fund two hours of landing hill snow grooming or travel expenses for a SWSA jumper to compete at other eastern hills.

These are just 10 of the 300 or so charities found on the pages of sportingAcause.com, all of which are doing heroic work to improve lives in our part of the world. Please remember them when gift-giving this holiday season.

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For the Love of the Game

Recent news about rich parents  gaming  the system to get their offspring into the “right” colleges has spawned conversations about the state of things in America.

I, of course, have my two cents to add to the discussion, especially where sports are concerned.

Sports were one of the avenues to acceptance that the offenders employed to get their over-privileged darlings into elite schools- doctoring photos , generating fictitious resumes and bribing coaches. As if collegiate sports were not tainted enough already.

Which led me to ponder, is there any purity left in sports at all?

Money and politics run college sports- that we know.  And even at the secondary level, for every  high school athlete who shows even a modicum of promise, there is a parent- advocate pushing  to position their child for a college scholarship.

And, sadly, even youngsters can’t play a stress free game without “encouragement”  from the stands. At my home town Little League field, years ago officials moved the bleachers from behind home plate out to center field where shouted criticisms  from parents were less disruptive.

So, is there any place where a game can be played simply for the joy of it?

I suggest that there is.

Special Olympics creates opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities. There are 12,000 in Connecticut alone competing year round in 28 different sports. They train to win, of course, but their focus is to do the best they can and enjoy the process. And part of Special Olympics is Unified Sports which partners Special Olympians with elementary, middle and high school students to train and play together in friendly competition.

And here’s  another area where sports are played for the best of reasons. When and wherever everyday folks gather to play for someone else’s benefit. To me that is sport at its most noble, and the pages of sportingAcause.com are full of them.

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Winsted Penguin Plunge

The Winsted Penguin Plunge will be held Saturday, March 9, 2019 at the Highland Lake Boat Launch, 278 Lake St., Winsted, CT 06098. This is the “largest grass roots fundraiser to benefit Special Olympics CT.”

The Penguin Plunge is a wintertime fundraiser for Special Olympics Connecticut. Participants (“Penguins”) of all ages register and get pledges and then join with others, either as an individual or as part of a team, to jump into the cold water for fun and a great cause!

Entrants, who must be 8 years old or more, are asked to raise a minimum of $100 each to participate in the Penguin Plunge, but there are great incentive prizes for those who meet higher fundraising levels. Those who do not want to take the plunge can still participate in the fundraising effort. Entrants are asked to raise their funds early enough to bring them the day of the event.

Register online at give.classy.org/winstedplunge for a free event T shirt. Costumes are encouraged. Get a printable registration form at soct.org.

The Plunge day schedule is as follows:

10:00 am Registration

12:00 noon Plunge

1:00 pm Awards for fundraisers, best costumes and other festivities.

 

The money raised through Penguin Plunges benefit over 12,000 athletes and Unified Sports® partners state-wide who participate year-round in 27 different sports training and athletic competitions for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and their peers without disabilities. The Penguin Plunge is one of the largest fundraising efforts for Special Olympics Connecticut.

For more information call (203) 230-1201 ext. 270 or email jeffreyv@soct.org.

For more information about Special Olympics CT visit soct.org.

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