effortless ways to raise money for SOME

Okay, seriously. These are the easiest, most effort free ways to raise money for Special Olympics and you don't have to pay any type of membership fees or dues and you don't have to do anything that you aren't already doing. For about 5 seconds of your time you can raise money for our athletes daily. If you are reading this blog than you have access to a computer.

Here's a new easy way to raise money for Special O. Maine. Just start using Yahoo! powered GoodSearch.com as your search engine and they'll donate a penny to your favorite cause every time you do a search! In addition, do all of your shopping through their online shopping mall, GoodShop.com, where you can shop at more than 700 top online retailers and a percentage of your purchases will go to the charity you choose...US! You pay the same price as you normally would, but a donation goes to your cause!
Here's the web site — http://www.goodsearch.com. You can also read about GoodSearch in the NY Times, Oprah Magazine, CNN, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal.

I just changed my search engine to goodsearch. I am computer illiterate and it honestly took me less than one minute. After that I proceeded to search for 25 police departments and in just ten minutes I have already raised a quarter. With the amount of searching that my husband and kids do everyday for homework, hockey, WWE, Pokemon, Bass guitars and water powered SUV's we will be able to raise a ton of money for SOME. You can too.

In addition to Goodsearch we are also signed up with Charity Blast. charityblast.com is a web site with like 1000 businesses that we shop at every day and they have sales for people who shop through them and then portions of the money goes to SOME...if you chose us as your charity of choice. The holidays are coming and the economy stinks. It is recommended that you start your shopping now and do a little each week so that you don't go broke in Decmber and plus we can all use the discounts. Both of these web sites have no catches and no special fees. We all win. Life really is good!

Okay, where are the fans?

Greetings from my little dark office at the Special Olympics Maine state office. Yes, I am back in the office. After ten years of working full time in my home office, I have returned here and am working daily 9-3 and finishing my day at my home office. I will be here following the school calendar and home when the kids are home. I have to tell you, it is pretty strange. First of all, you have to look nice to work in an office. Ughh! No more sweat pants, and and makeup is now a must. Also, it is so quiet. I am used to working in chaos with two little boys screaming in the back ground. I have been thinking about maybe bringing in a spongebob video to play while I work so it feels more familiar. Anyway, enough about me. Let's talk about all of the exciting things happening out there in Special Olympics Land.

First of all, most of you have heard by now about the controversy surrounding the film Tropic Thunder. Before making a statement I actually went to see this film the day it opened. Controversy aside, it is still a bad movie and not worth the money. Tom Cruise was funny in his bit role and that was it. The rest was so foolish and rude and and actually boring. The controversial scenes were definitley just that. They depicted persons with intellectaul disabilties in a very demeaning way and they used the word "retard" over and over. anyone who cares about persons with I.D. would be greatly hurt and offended. If anyone wants to read my full review of the film just let me know and I will forward it to you. Anyway, we here at Special Olympics Maine do not condone the use of any terminology that is considered demeaning, dehumanizing, insulting or hurtful and we will do our best to educate others on the harmful effects of the usage of the "R-Word" if you would like to join us in our fight to end the use please visit http://www.r-word.org/ and take the pledge to put an end to it.

So, what else. It's been 9 months since I last posted. That is horrible and I apologize to those of you who have actually been following this blog. (I think there are 2 of you that I know of!) :)

Winter and Summer games rocked. Everything went really well. On Friday of Summer Games we did have to cancel portions of Opening Ceremonies due to rain but other than that things were great. The state swim meet took place in Lewsiton in the Spring. Always a very exciting event. Motor Activities took place at Yamouth academy. Now that is an event to see. Wow! Incredibly inspiring. The kids from NYA run the entire event which is very cool. There was actually this one kid there named Josh who had helped last year and loved it so much that he spent $200 of his own money to purchase equipment for the event. That is amazing! (I posted a photo of him with one of our athletes at the top of this entry.) In addition to these events we have completed our golf and sailing program (see photo of athlete Peter Brewster above as he prepares his boat for a sail) for the year and are heading in to soccer season and of course our annual Equestrian competition which is coming up this weekend in Skowhegan. Another incredible event.

The Maine Law Enforcement Torch Run is still going strong with members working hard for a big Fall sweep to bring us up to where we had hoped to be. It is amazing to me that they continue to work so hard for our program year after year. What an incredible group of people. The irving event was also very succesful despite the gas prices. Life is good. Really, it is.

Tomorrow most of our staff will be heading out to Camp Tall Pines for the annual Enterprise Golf tournament and auction. I will be spending the day at the Cumberland Fair selling tickets for a 2008, 105th anniversary edition Harley. (Only 2000 tickets printed and they are $20 each) I will be there from 9-2 if anyone wants to stop by, buy a ticket and bring me a cotton candy. (just kidding) We will have a crew at the Fryeburg fair next week as well. The drawing is october 10th so get your tickets now.

Thursday is the first day of our annual Celebrity Golf Tournament in Boothbay. Golfers can sign up to be on a team with a sports legend or hero. There is also a sports auction on Friday night and lobster bake which are open to the community. Call us for more info.

On a personal note, my boys are keeping me extremely busy. Jonah is in soccer, football, and cubscouts. (His team won their game this weekend 4-0 and Jonah got all 4 goals. Yes, I am totally bragging.) My 9 year old plays goalie for the Portland JR Pirates and recently won an MVP award at tournaments. He is also in Webelos. I am very proud of both of them. Isn't it weird, for those of you that know me, that I would have two boys who are so athletic and that I would be working for a sports program. Kind of makes you laugh.

Leave comments or let me know if you have something you want me to share on here. Have a great day. (I mean it)

SUGARLOAF, HERE WE COME!

Wow. It always amazes me how quickly time flies. Winter and Summer games are always great markers of time for me.

The crew has already headed to the mountain to start setting things up. Linda and I have stayed behind in order to take care of the office and any last minute details. It is such an exciting time of year for all of us. Winter Games is a great kick off to all of the sporting events we have to offer during the year. I have heard rumors of many exciting things to come in 2008 and can't wait to be a part of them. One that I will be working closely on is our young athletes program which will be sporting/play events geared toward children 2-8 to help prepare them to become future SO athletes. I also know that a coaches college is in the works which will be an awesome opportunity for folks to be trained and certified in several sports all in one weekend. It's going to be an awesome year.

So, Winter games are taking place Sunday January 27th through Tuesday January 29th. Our Opening Ceremonies are on MOnday at Noon in front of the BAse Lodge. Let's hope and pray for some awesome weather this year. We ahve 500 athletes who are very excited to participate so we want some sunshine, great conditions, no wind, and blue skies. Is that really too much to ask.

Did you know that this is our 26th year at Sugarloaf. Wow! And I have been there for every year. (no comments on my age please) I also fondly remember our many years at Saddleback Mountain. That is where I did my alpine coaches certification with Toby LeConte! Of course during those years I was more interested in the boys than the skiing.

Are you aware that 2008 marks the 40th anniversary of Special Olympics? I would love to hear stories about your fondest or craziest memories over the years. I would like to put them together in a commemorative type book. I am looking for written stories and also old photos that pertain to Special Olympics. You can send them to our state office and I will certainly return them when I am done.

That's it for today. I'll let you know how the games go...I'm sure they will be awesome.

Happy New Year

Wow! 2008 already. Where does the time go? 2007 was an awesome year for Special Olympics Maine, although it ended on a sad note with the passing of two beloved athletes, Marion Remick from UPLIFT and Conrad Bouley from LC Dill Center. They will be sadly missed.

2008 started off cool with our annual Lobster Dip at Old Orchard Beach. Nearly 300 dippers took the plunge to raise money for special Olympics Maine. The event even made it on to CNN!!!

Winter Games are just around the corner. Yay!!! see you at Sugarloaf.

BTW, we are going to be re-vamping our website and also adding an e-newsletter. Let me know if you wish to be added to the newsletter email list. Happy New Year!

It's snowing

It's snowing...and you know what that means. It's time to get ready to jump in the ocean. The forms are ready and available on our web site (www.specialolympicsmaine.org) for the 20th annual Lobster Dip to be held January 1st at Noon (sharp) in front of the Brunswick hotel at Old Orchard Beach. Start collecting your money now and plan to join us for something really "cool" on New Years day. How many people can actually say they went swimming in the ocean in January? Okay, actually close to 400 people but who's counting. Wouldn't you like to be one of them? If you can't get the forms online (which doesn't really make sense since you are reading this blog on line) you can call our state office at 879-0489 and we will get you all set up. A great way to collect money for the dip is to set up a page at Firstgiving.com. My 8 year old set up his own page in a matter of minutes and raised over $700 last year so I know you can do it.

So, a couple weeks ago our office got together with all of the Area Managers and members of the SOME BOD and we talked about many new and exciting ideas on ways to improve our program. Our staff has already met a couple of times to make these things happen. One of our plans is to begin an e-newsletter so if you want to be on that mailing list please call the office and let Ian know. We are also planning to re-vamp our web site so that it will include lot's of great information. Let me know if you have any other great ideas and I will pass them on to the staff.

Can you beleive how close Christmas is? I am already in a panic. If you are planning to do any online shopping, and I know you are, please do it through charityblast.com. We get donations from the store, you will most likely get a discount, and everybody wins.

Finally, as you may have heard, Special Olympics is launching a new campaign. BE A FAN. Keep your eyes open for more information on how to incorporate this slogan in to your area.

That's all for today. 20+ people coming for Thanksgiving and it is now 4PM so I am off to clean and cook. Take care and by the way...I am extremely thankful for each and every one of you.

Is anyone out there?

Good Morning. It's October! As a matter of fact it's already the end of October. My life is just one big blur of work and kids and hockey images. Yes, hockey season is well under way which means that I do not have one free minute...literally. My husband Frank and I are also currently running our second marriage course at our Church so things are certainly hectic.

So, is anybody out there. Is there even one person who is reading this? So much has happened since I last posted. The biggest news of course is the World Games in China. Our athletes have returned home after over two weeks in Shanghai and they did an outstanding job. We are all very proud of them. They each placed within the top five in each of their events and even brought home a couple of bronze and silver and even gold medals. Outstanding. This is a picture of our Equestrian athlete Jacuelyn Guisley getting one of her awards. Every athlete also received one of those adorable panda bears.

In addition to the competition our athletes also had the chance to learn a lot about the culture. They even got to go in to a home of a Chinese family and learned to make dumplings. If you check out the Team USA web site, you can read all of the daily highlights and also look up hundreds, and hundreds of photos. http://www.specialolympicsteamusa.org/ Above, I have posted a photo of our aquatics athlete Keith Draper hanging out with friends before a competition.

Did you know that if you want to have more than one child in China, you have to pay for it? I also learned from our team that unless a building is more than 7 stories high, there are no elevators. Driving is like a free-for-all...just find an empty spot and go and entire families ride on a motorcycle, at once!

Kala Emery, seen above with President Bush, competed in Track and Field events and Robin Sibley was our Bocce Player. Everyone had a great time and did a great job. Yay Maine!!!

BTW...One of our long time Area Managers, Dot Graves of Bangor, won a hometown hero award for her dedication to SOME! Way to go Dot!

That's it for today. Feel free to leave comments...nice ones anyway! Do you have a short SOME story or cool photo you would like to share...let me know and I'll try to post them. LBIRD@maine.rr.com

6 years ago today

I know this is a Special Olympics blog but I just couldn't ignore the significance of the day... 6 years have gone by since that fateful day in NY, PA and Washington. Certainly an event that changed the lives of every American.
So, where were you when it happened and what were you thinking? I was actually on my way to get an x-ray when I heard that the first plane had crashed. I remember getting to the DRs office and telling the technician about it. "Did you hear that some guy crashed his plane in to the World Trade Center?" Little did I know. By the time I got in the car to head home, our Nation was under attack and I was going on with my merry life. I called my mom to tell her about my appointment and her voice sounded so strange. "what's wrong?" I asked. She proceeded to tell me everything and I stepped on the gas to get home to my two year old as quickly as possible. I felt panicked and confused. I was glued to television. I remember calling my husband who was working in NH and begging him to come home. I also remember right in the middle of all of it thinking, OMG we need milk, and rushing to the store to be sure we had everything we needed. I don't know what I thought was going to happen but I knew I was going to be prepared.
Funny what people do. Now, six years ago I still clearly remember all of the details of that day and all of the emotions. I pray that we never have another day like that one. That day changed the lives of all of us. Never forget. God Bless America.