From the Desk of the CEO: April 2025

From the Desk of the CEO: April 2025

Dear Special Olympics Pennsylvania Community,
This is the first of what will become regular updates “from the desk of the CEO.” Several times per year (approximately quarterly), I will provide insights and updates on topics and events that are important to our Movement and share my perspectives as the CEO. I wanted to start this month by addressing something that recently sparked, in less than a week, the most engagement across all social media platforms that we’ve ever seen.

Risks Worth Taking
As some of you may know, I began my career as a Naval Flight Officer flying off aircraft carriers. Flight operations on a moving ship, at night, and in bad weather are inherently risky. But, these operations are conducted routinely. The risks are not cavalierly ignored – they are mitigated and managed to levels deemed acceptable. They are risks worth taking in order to accomplish the mission.

While the operations of Special Olympics are very different than carrier flight operations, we are also confronted with risks. As an organization, we should not be afraid to take risks. But, the risks we take should be worth taking.

Recently, a moment of unfiltered passion about Special Olympics Pennsylvania went viral when comedian Shane Gillis—who has a family member who competes as a SOPA athlete—declared, “Special Olympics PA… that sh*t rocks!” at a live event, moments before he and Pat McAfee each donated $50,000 to support our athletes.
In one raw, unfiltered sentence, Shane captured what so many of us feel in our hearts but often express differently or perhaps don’t say at all. This Movement does rock! It’s bold. It’s emotional. It’s gritty. It’s real. It’s powerful. But for some, the language was unexpected—even uncomfortable. And that’s where the conversation really began.

The video from this event resonated with a broad, younger audience and instantly went viral, offering us a powerful opportunity to amplify our message of inclusion in new spaces to reach individuals who might not have been familiar with SO and/or may have had misperceptions about people with ID. If we were going to tap into this viral moment, we knew that we had to act quickly. We also knew we were taking a risk, and by acting on this moment some people might love it and others might be upset.

This moment also sparked a second conversation – one that was a bit surprising but also necessary – a conversation about inclusion. True inclusion isn’t just access to sports. It’s a seat at the table. We cannot ask the world to see our athletes as full, respected, contributing adults if we’re not doing so ourselves. That means giving them the microphone. That means trusting them with leadership. And, that means they show up in the mainstream, on social media, in moments of humor, strength, and pride – just like everyone else.

I consulted with several stakeholders before we launched our brief campaign, including our board, Special Olympics North America, and some external partners. After those consultations, I deemed that the risks were worth taking in order to reach a new audience and meet them where they were, and I gave the “green light” to proceed.
Responses overall were positive (favorable reactions outweighed negative ones by more than 10 to 1). That said, we respect and understand that the tone of this campaign may not feel appropriate or comfortable to everyone. I am sorry that some were offended, and I appreciate the many differing perspectives that were shared.

Moving forward, you will continue to see us take risks, if and when we believe those risks are worth taking. They won’t all be “edgy” risks like the most recent case, but you will see us push boundaries that may make some people uncomfortable. Here are two examples. First, we are on the cutting edge of implementing new technology for the Movement. You should already be familiar with the volunteer portal that was launched last year, and most of you have heard about the new athlete registration portal being launched this Spring. These developments are part of a broader global effort called the “Digital Center of Excellence (COE),” and SOPA is one of several state Programs working with Special Olympics, Inc. on the development effort. By being one of the first Programs to employ this technology (and we were the very first Program in the world to go live with the volunteer portal!), we have an important voice in shaping the design of the system and setting priorities for development. But, there is also more risk by being first. Even though our staff team is working diligently with the COE developers to identify and address challenges during development and testing phases so that users – athletes, families, and volunteers – won’t encounter these problems when they use the system, there is always some risk that there will be “bugs” or kinks that have to be ironed out. We deemed these risks acceptable in order to position SOPA as a leader in the Movement and to enable us to deliver solutions to our constituents as quickly as possible.

The second example involves our work to create a “Future of Sports” vision. We have been working not only with many SOPA staff and volunteers but also leaders from other Special Olympics Programs and SO North America to create a vision for the future of our program and service offerings. Some of the early fruit from those efforts is the addition of a 4th season and our upcoming softball and golf championships this summer.

As we look to the future and how to best meet the needs and desires of our athletes, we will continue to push boundaries and take risks that are worth taking. Please know that none of this changes who we are or what we’re about – building a more joyful and inclusive world. This is not about abandoning our past – it’s about building on it. And, it’s about expanding the circle—not changing who belongs in it.

I’ll share more about our work and our vision for 2030 in future newsletter updates. Until then, thank you ALL for your passion and support on this journey together. The best is yet to come!

Special Olympics Pennsylvania Celebrates 500

SPECIAL OLYMPICS PENNSYLVANIA CELEBRATES HISTORIC 500TH UNIFIED CHAMPION SCHOOL!

Special Olympics Pennsylvania reached an historic milestone as it now has 500 schools in 61 counties throughout the state that offer fully inclusive Unified Champion Schools (UCS) programs, with West Hills Intermediate School becoming the 500th. Students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities come together as equal peers through Unified Sports and inclusive leadership. Together these programs promote the values of meaningful inclusion, respect, and understanding. This contributes to fostering school communities where all are welcome and accepted. This event will include a press conference, a presentation by two student athletes on a Unified Sports team and more.

SEARCH #UCS500 ON SOCIAL MEDIA TO SEE ALL OF OUR AMAZING SCHOOLS!

The Unified Champion Schools journey in Pennsylvania began in 2008 with just four middle schools in the School District of Philadelphia. Over the course of the past 17 years, more than 500 elementary, middle, and high schools from 61 counties have partnered with Special Olympics Pennsylvania to promote socially inclusive environments though Unified Sports and youth leadership clubs. SOPA and our partner schools have seen the tremendous impact on students and school culture through their participation in UCS - nationally, 95% of teachers feel it leads to more socially inclusive environments and 92% of teachers see a reduction in bullying, teasing, and the use of offensive language. To learn more about our UCS program, visit here.

Our UCS program is possible due to the support and sponsorship of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation, Aramark, the US Department of Education, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania/PA Department of Education and hundreds of other organizations and individuals all over the Commonwealth.

Team PA Selection Show: 2026 USA Games

Special Olympics Pennsylvania is proud to present the Team PA Selection Show for the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games in Minnesota!

91 athletes and Unified partners. 25 coaches. 11 sports. 1 incredible experience ahead of us.

Support Team PA and donate today at: www.GoTeamPA.org 

For more information regarding the Special Olympics USA Games, visit here: https://specialolympicspa.org/usa-games

Pittsburgh Polar Plunge Raises Record-Breaking $1 Million

(Pittsburgh, PA – February 27, 2024) - Special Olympics Three Rivers Region has announced that the 14^th annual Pittsburgh Polar Plunge shattered its original fundraising goal of $750,000 over the weekend raising a staggering $1,075,901, an increase of nearly 50% over last year’s totals. This marks the first time in history Special Olympics Pennsylvania has raised more than a million dollars in a single fundraiser.

More than 4,300 plungers from local schools, community groups and corporations were “freezin’ for a reason” as they plunged into frigid waters outside of Acrisure Stadium (February 23-24) and at Station Square (Feb 2) to raise funds in support of the region’s more than 4,000 Special Olympics athletes.

“Pittsburgh continues to show up in huge ways for Special Olympics athletes in our community,” said Andrew Fee, Executive Director for Special Olympics Pennsylvania, Three Rivers Region. “This incredible milestone will help us increase our impact in the community by getting more individuals with intellectual disabilities engaged with our life-changing programming. Because of this historic achievement, we will be able grow the number of schools involved with Special Olympics as well as offer more sports, health, and leadership opportunities – at no charge – to athletes around our region.”

The Polar Plunge events kicked off February 2 with the Super Plunge at Station Square and continued over the past weekend at Acrisure Stadium. Additionally, nearly 2,000 students from around the region participated in the Cool Schools plunge Friday morning and local corporations raised over $100,000 on Friday evening at a happy hour plunge hosted by Pittsburgh Brewing Co. and sponsored by Calgon Carbon. More than 60 corporate sponsors partnered with Special Olympics to make this year’s event possible.

The annual Polar Plunge fundraiser helps to support the local region’s quality training and competitions in 24 sports, leadership training, and health initiatives for Special Olympics athletes throughout the year.

About Special Olympics Pennsylvania

Special Olympics Pennsylvania provides year-round training and competition in 21 Olympic-type sports to more than 13,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities or closely related developmental disabilities.  For more information about how you can join “The Inclusion Revolution,” visit www.specialolympicspa.org.