Special Olympics Wisconsin News

Baird has presented the Baird Community Involved Player of the Year Award to A.J. Hawk who is in his sixth season as a linebacker with the Green Bay Packers. Ahman Green, all-time leading rusher for the Packers who retired in 2011, and Steve Booth, Director of Investment Banking for Baird, presented the award to Hawk at the Wisconsin Sports Awards. The inaugural event, which was created to celebrate excellence in high school, college and professional sports in the state, was held May 10 at the Wisconsin Club in downtown Milwaukee.

For Deputy Zak Albrecht, Marinette County Sheriff’s Office and 2012 recipient of the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) Volunteer of the Year Award, raising awareness and being actively involved in Special Olympics means a great deal. Albrecht has been volunteering with Special Olympics Wisconsin for seven years and has been involved in a wide variety of events to help raise money and awareness for athletes around the state of Wisconsin.

May 13-19, 2012 is National Police Week, an event created after President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation designating May 15th as “Peace Officer Memorial Day” in 1962 to recognize law enforcement across the country and remember fallen heroes. Special Olympics Wisconsin would like to thank the 1,000 officers throughout the state who not only serve their communities, but help raise funds and awareness of the nearly 10,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities that train and compete in Special Olympics Wisconsin through the Law Enforcement Torch Run® (LETR).

Special Olympics Wisconsin (SOWI) is proud to announce that Americorps member, Ally Armstrong, is the recipient of the Serve Wisconsin Disability Inclusion Service of the Governor’s Service Award! Armstrong’s hard work ethic, dedication, understanding, self-motivation, and passion earned her this award.

This Spring, Special Olympics Wisconsin (SOWI) became one of eight programs worldwide to receive a Family Health Forum grant from Special Olympics Incorporated. Sponsored by Lions Club International, the Family Health Forum initiative is designed to engage families of those with intellectual disabilities in Special Olympics and offer an environment where parents and caregivers can gain direct access to health information, resources, and support. Wisconsin’s Family Health Forum is free and will take place on May 19th in the West High School in Oshkosh starting at 10:30a.m. Pre -registration is mandatory and families must register by May 1st. Registration will be granted on a first-come, first-serve basis to 70 family members, athletes and siblings.
 

On Monday, March 19, 2012, Senate Bill 377, the Wisconsin’s People First Law, was signed into law. The bill, authored by Rep. Erik Severson (R-Osceola), removes the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” from state statutes and replace them with the term “intellectual disability”.
 

Robert Pio Hajjar, a Special Olympics athlete and founder of non-profit organization Ideal Way, emceed the 2011 Leadership Conference in September. This year, he received the inaugural United Nations' World Down Syndrome Award in recognition of his outstanding achievements which have strengthened and enriched the lives of persons with Down syndrome.
 

On Friday, March 30, the documentary BULLY opened in select theaters in New York and L.A. The film, directed by Sundance and Emmy-awardwinning filmmaker Lee Hirsch (distributed by the Weinstein Company), is garnering tremendous media attention and has already begun to serve as a catalyst for conversation on the topic of bullying.
 

Twenty-eight years ago, during a cold and dreary winter in the Milwaukee area, a small group of local business representatives got together to brainstorm activities to beat what many Midwesterners call the winter doldrums. Since there wasn’t a blueprint to follow, the group started from scratch in creating a number of cross-company competitions with a goal of giving back to the community. The group settled on Special Olympics Wisconsin (SOWI) Greater Milwaukee Region as their charity of choice. Nearly three decades later, the group—known as Corporate Capers— has made a profound impact on the 10,000 athletes across Wisconsin and has had a tremendous amount of fun along the way.
 

On Thursday, May 3rd, students with and without intellectual disabilities from more than 20 statewide middle and high schools will gather in Madison for SOWI’s Spring Youth Activation Summit. The Youth Activation Summit is one component of Project UNIFY® --a program which activates youth to promote school communities where all young people are agents of change – fostering respect, dignity and advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities.