Jessie's Blog: How can you help?

Hi Everyone:

This is Jessie Salness, your Athelete Representative.  As you might know, part of my position is going to the monthly management meetings where we talk about the details that go into running Lebanon County Special Olympics. This month we talked about the budget for the year and how much money is going out and how much money is coming in. The money going out pays for uniforms, sports equipment, coaches' training, registration for sectionals and much more than I could possibly list. We cannot run Lebanon Area Special Olympics without paying the expenses both for day-to-day stuff, and the fun things like the dinner dance. How do we pay for it since we don't get funding from the state, Special Olympics PA, or the federal government?  Unbeknownst to many people, we are funded strictly by donations and fundraisers.

Jim Campion, the Treasurer, explained that we are spending a little more each year than the monies received from donations and fundraisers. This is a problem we can solve two ways. One way is by cutting costs by not having some of the things we enjoy but are extras, like the annual picnic. In order to have fun extras like the picnic, we need to bring in more money than we are spending. The second way is we can increase the amount of money coming in by donations and fundraisers like the upcoming Bunny Run, Sheetz coupon books, and the Car Cruise, for example. Deb Tice said that there are 20 athletes and their families who are consistently participating in fundraisers and are doing a good job. We have a total of 270 athletes, and if each of us helped with both the fundraisers and donations, we would be so much better off. We each can do our part to help with the budget by talking to people we know about Lebanon Area Special Olympics. I have learned a lot being a Special Olympics athlete, and one of the things I learned was that I can achieve more as part of the team than by myself. We are all part of the Lebanon SO team, and we do a lot more together than we ever thought possible. We as athletes can help by letting the people who care about us know how much Lebanon Area Special Olympics means to us and how it impacts our lives. We can tell them that Lebanon SO is funded ONLY by donations and fundraisers, and that costs approximately $160 every year to pay for each athlete, from first practice to the final event. Their support makes it possible for us Lebanon County Special Olympics athletes to participate in various sports, and without everyone's support, there would be no Lebanon County SOPA!

Let's prove that we are up to the challenge, and show others that we are more than athletes, that we are advocates for the Lebanon County Special Olympics!  "Many hands make light work" as they say, and with banding together to participate in fundraisers and assisting in securing and providing donations, we can ensure a bright future for Lebanon County Special Olympics!

 Thank you for support and interest,

Jessie Salness

   Lebanon County Special Olympics Athlete Representative