Articles in Volunteers

Special Olympics Iowa serves more than 12,000 athletes and Unified Sports Partners. Nearly 90 Special Olympics events and special programs are held each year throughout the state, giving athletes a fair opportunity to develop and demonstrate their skills and talents.

Thousands of volunteers are utilized each year at both the area and state levels to facilitate and manage sports competitions for the athletes. The key volunteers for scheduling and implementing the area competitions are the area directors. These volunteers understand and promote the Special Olympics mission, goals and philosophies.

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Thank you to all of our delegation managers, coaches and volunteers for submitting your Class A Volunteer Applications. The applications are being processed much smoother because of your help making sure all the application components are complete.

Remember incomplete Class A Volunteer Applications will be held at the state office for three months. After that, the application will be shredded and you will have to resubmit a new application to volunteer.

Applications may take up to 30 days to process, so please plan ahead when you need your credential.

Enterprise – the company used to run background checks will be closed December 9-15, so no applications will be able to be processed during that time. If you need a credential, please submit your application prior to/after this date.

Thank you for volunteering! Special Olympics Iowa programs could not exist without the generous volunteer spirit of so many Iowans!

Volunteers are the mainstay of the Special Olympics organization. They fulfill a wide variety of positions including chaperoning, coaching, event management and fundraising. Volunteers also ensure that athletes receive quality training and competition. One such dedicated volunteer is Sara Bidney, the director of instruction at the Wakonda Club in Des Moines.

Bidney was recently selected as the 2015 PGA Section Teacher of the Year and the 2015 Youth Player Development award winner. This marks the third time in six years that Bidney received the Teacher of the Year honor. She is the only professional to receive both awards in the same year and the only woman to receive both awards.

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Tyler (red shirt) with (from left) Chick, Ashlee Goodrich (Tyler’s manager) and Scott Barsness (who Tyler job shadowed).

By Shelly Perkins, CLG Communications, Wells Fargo
Making the decision to help out, lend a hand, become involved, stand up for a cause, become an advocate, has a far-reaching and positive influence on so many lives. For Chick Herbert, a Business Initiatives Senior Manager in our Retail Services business in Des Moines, choosing to volunteer and serve on the board for Special Olympics Iowa (SOIA) the past nine years has been an extremely meaningful and rewarding experience for a number of reasons – specifically, meeting and growing a friendship with Tyler Leech.
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Rick King (center) became an SOIA softball coach when he learned of the opportunity through Sammons Financial Group.

The Special Olympics Iowa State Softball Tournament has been sponsored by Sammons Financial Group since 2010. The company not only donates money to keep the event going, but lines the softball fields with volunteers each summer.

One of those volunteers loved the event so much, he became a coach for one of the Link Associates team. Rick King is a process improvement consultant for Sammons and has coached softball and baseball for 15 years.

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