04 December 2007

Special Olympics joins the celebration of the International Volunteer Day (IVD) officially recognizing the work from all those people that contribute in a volunteer and altruistic way to improve their environment in Latin America.

Special Olympics Latin America, through its National Programs in the whole region, gives an annual recognition, for the volunteers of the year that have believed in and are fans of Special Olympics, who, during the year, offered their solidarity feelings for the athletes to be able to reach their goals.

Anyone can be a volunteer. There are no age limits. As long as there is a desire to do it and to want to do it, there will be always people waiting for their help, even if it is just a smile.

Special Olympics would not exist without the time, energy, dedication and commitment of their over 750,000 volunteers worldwide. The volunteers allow the organization to offer sports, training and competition programs to more than 2.5 million people with intellectual disabilities in the world.

Special Olympics Latin America wants to take advantage of this opportunity to give special thanks to all the volunteers, to the different companies that helped the athletes to be present in the different competitions developed during this year; Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, China, South America Football Tournament in Carabobo, Venezuela, health fairs in different places, trainings on a daily basis with the athletes along the region; increasing our effort to educate the communities about the capability and talent of people with intellectual disabilities looking for a world of inclusion and equality for everyone.