SPOTLIGHT

The T. Boone Pickens Foundation focuses grants to organizations that operate in its core giving categories (see “About TBPF”). The current partner spotlight is Special Olympics Texas.

The mission of Special Olympics Texas is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities [mental retardation], giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in the sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

“I’ve always been a firm believer in the value of exercise and the spirit of competition,” explains Pickens.  “The Special Olympics program opens doors of enrichment and self-worth to those who otherwise might never experience much of either.”

A $100,000 Foundation grant helped cover the expenses for 60 athletes to attend the Special Olympics Team USA training camp and Texas orientation sessions, including the cost of uniforms, luggage, food, and housing.

“Thanks to the Pickens Foundation’s tremendous generosity, 60 SOTX athletes were afforded a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that they will remember for the rest of their lives,” says Margaret Larsen, president and CEO of Special Olympics Texas. “The athletes were immersed in a foreign culture and environment [in China]; competed against and interacted with athletes from around the world; and all returned home as champions — enriched, empowered, and esteemed.”

Special Olympics Texas could not exist without the time, energy, and dedication of thousands of volunteers throughout Texas.  Volunteers are the backbone of this organization. More than 1.5 million individuals around the globe dedicate one of the most precious gifts to Special Olympics — their time.  More than 44,000 of those individuals volunteer in Texas.

For more information, visit www.sotx.org/ or call (512) 835-7756.