Before the 2015 Special Olympics World Games kick off in Los Angeles on July 25, athletes from Hong Kong and Egypt will be treated to the best of what San Diego has to offer, with help from the El Cajon Host Committee, a group of fifteen committed professionals from East County.
“We asked for them to give us a blessing and they said, go for it,” said El Cajon Host Committee Chairperson Cathy Elgas about the City of El Cajon’s administrators.
Before the 2015 Special Olympics World Games kick off in Los Angeles on July 25, athletes from Hong Kong and Egypt will be treated to the best of what San Diego has to offer, with help from the El Cajon Host Committee, a group of fifteen committed professionals from East County.
“We asked for them to give us a blessing and they said, go for it,” said El Cajon Host Committee Chairperson Cathy Elgas about the City of El Cajon’s administrators.
Elgas, Granite Hills High School Women’s Swim Head Coach and owner of Manta Ray Aquatics, and her committee members have been holding meetings to generate ideas for grant money, sponsorship, underwriters and donations for the lodging, meals and recreation they have planned for the Special Olympics athletes. Elgas and fellow committee members—El Cajon Police Department Captain Jeff Arvan and Deborah Turner, Executive Director of St. Madeleine Sophie Center to name a few—hope to raise up to $10,000. Any funds unused for the athletes will go to the Special Olympics organization.
The Special Olympics athletes will be in town from Feb. 21 through July 24. Up to 200 athletes (the number may get up to 250 with coaches and other Special Olympics staff) will stay at San Diego State University. SDSU will be donating the costs for at least 100 of the required beds.
On their first day in San Diego, Special Olympics athletes will enjoy a dance with a DJ, social hour and dinner on the SDSU campus. On Wednesday, they will be treated to whale watching and a barbecue on the beach. Come Thursday, the athletes will be shuttled to the USS Midway and a Padres game, where they will be honored on the field.
That’s just the beginning of the greetings and fanfare that Special Olympics athletes will enjoy. Some 80,000 spectators are expected to attend just the opening ceremony in LA, though hundreds of thousands are anticipated at the games. So LA2015 can reach even more people than that, ESPN will be broadcasting coverage to fans across the globe.
Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics, “A global movement of people who want to improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities” has more than 4.4 million athletes worldwide. Games are held every four years. It has been 16 years since they have been held in the United States. The Southern California climate will be beneficial for the summer games, according to JoAnn Klonowski, vice president of the Special Olympics Host Town Committee. Venues throughout Los Angeles will be used for 25 different summer sports, such as aquatics, basketball, soccer, gymnastics, and track and field. That’s a grand scale considering that Shriver began the Special Olympics as a day camp in her own backyard nearly fifty years ago.
The Host Town program began almost 20 years ago, in 1995. For the 2015 games, or LA2015 there are 80 different towns hosting the 177 countries sending athletes. Host Towns are selected based on many criteria, including recreation and entertainment and sports practicing facilities (things that are practically synonymous with San Diego and East County).
“So much of what politics is about can be hard, difficult things, but this is something so positive for the community,” said El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells. “We’re looking forward to hosting them. It’s good for them, it’s good for us, the city.”
For information about LA2015, visit www.la2015.org. To donate to Host Town San Diego East County, visit www.support.la2015.org/checkout/donation?eid=41668.
