Showing posts with label MD Special Olympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MD Special Olympics. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Eunice Kennedy Shriver remembered

Eunice Kennedy Shriver remembered for founding the Special Olympics

Sunday August 16, 2009 by Kevin Dayhoff

Some folks have asked where they may find my tribute to Eunice Kennedy Shriver, “Shriver remembered for Special Olympics and also for a connection to Carroll that appeared my Carroll Eagle Archives column on Sunday August 16, 2009

So I thought what I would do is post the long version which is unedited to meet word limit…

Last Tuesday, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, died at a hospital on Cape Cod surrounded by several generations of her large family. She was 88 years old.

Inspired by her sister, Rosemary Kennedy, who was born mentally retarded, Shriver founded the Special Olympics in 1968 for persons with intellectual disabilities.

As a child, Rosemary and Eunice Kennedy are reported to have spent a great deal of time together swimming and sailing. Rosemary died in 2005.

Shriver earned a sociology degree from Stanford University in 1943 and subsequently worked as a social worker at a prison for women in Alderson, W. Va, and the juvenile courts system in Chicago, before she took over the philanthropic foundation named after her brother, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., who had been killed fighting in WW II.

Throughout her lifetime received numerous awards for her work with children. In 1962, when no one spoke in public about the mentally handicapped, Shriver broke the ice and turned on the light on the plight of the handicapped.

It was then that she “revealed her sister's condition to the nation during her brother's presidency in a 1962 article for the Saturday Evening Post,” according to a number of historical accounts of Shriver’s incredible life of service to our nation.

A year earlier, in 1961, President Kennedy “signed a bill she championed to form the first President's Committee on Mental Retardation,” according to news accounts.

Shriver was the fifth of nine children in the family of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were two of her more famous brothers.

Many folks will also remember her as the mother of former NBC newswoman Maria Shriver; and the mother-in-law of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

She married R. Sargent Shriver, from Willis Street in Westminster, in 1953. Sargent is a member of the historic Shriver family in Carroll County, known as community, political and business leaders; whose heritage has been, in part, preserved by the Union Mills Homestead.

He later became President Kennedy’s first director of the Peace Corps. He was also Sen. George McGovern's running mate in 1972, and ran for president himself in 1976. It is reported that the couple were very close and that she was an integral part of her husband’s political career.

However, it is through the Special Olympics that she will live on through the ages.

She was the daughter of a millionaire, the sister of a president and a U.S. Senator, and the mother-in-law of a governor; however she is best known for her tireless lifelong commitment to the mentally handicapped – and the Special Olympics.

Tovia Smith said it best on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered:” Shriver “was born to one of America’s most powerful families but spent her life laboring for some of the least powerful.”

Kevin Dayhoff may reached at kevindayhoff at gmail.com or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/
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Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Remember today is the Torch Run in Westminster


Remember today is the Torch Run in Westminster

See: Flame of Hope Arrives in Carroll County!

MEDIA CONTACT:
Kelley Wallace/SOMD
PH: 410-789-6677 x117
Cell: 443-386-7965
E-mail: kwallace AT somd.org

OR

Chief Jeff Spaulding
Westminster Police Department
PH: 410-848-4646
E-mail: jspaulding AT westgov.com

Flame of Hope Arrives in Carroll County!

Carroll County Law Enforcement Officers Join Forces to Escort the Special Olympics Maryland Torch, Ensuring its Safe Passage to the 2009 SOMD Summer Games

Law Enforcement officers representing the police agencies throughout Carroll County will be out in force on Wednesday, June 3rd beginning at 8:00 AM, escorting the Special Olympics Maryland “Flame of Hope” from five (5) separate points around the county to Westminster. There they will join together and officially present the Flame of Hope in a brief ceremony at noon at City Hall. It is the duty of these Law Enforcement Torch Runners to ensure that the Flame is protected until it is delivered to the waiting hands of Special Olympics athletes on Friday, June 5th at the Opening Ceremony for the Special Olympic Maryland Summer Games held at Towson University, Towson Maryland.

[…]

Final Leg – Includes all participating law enforcement agencies in Carroll County (see above) to include members of the McDaniel College Department of Campus Safety, Office of the State’s Attorney and Westminster Police Department. Runners/bicyclists will depart McDaniel College @ noon and travel east along Main Street to City Hall where a Torch Run welcoming ceremony and celebration will take place.

For more information go to: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/2009/05/flame-of-hope-arrives-in-carroll-county.html

20090603 SDOSM 2009 CC Torch Run reminder


Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: www.kevindayhoff.net
Kevin Dayhoff Art: www.kevindayhoffart.com
Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: www.westgov.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff
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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Flame of Hope Arrives in Carroll County June 3 2009


Flame of Hope Arrives in Carroll County!

MEDIA CONTACT:
Kelley Wallace/SOMD
PH: 410-789-6677 x117
Cell: 443-386-7965
E-mail: kwallace AT somd.org

OR

Chief Jeff Spaulding
Westminster Police Department
PH: 410-848-4646
E-mail: jspaulding AT westgov.com

Flame of Hope Arrives in Carroll County!

Carroll County Law Enforcement Officers Join Forces to Escort the Special Olympics Maryland Torch, Ensuring its Safe Passage to the 2009 SOMD Summer Games

Law Enforcement officers representing the police agencies throughout Carroll County will be out in force on Wednesday, June 3rd beginning at 8:00 AM, escorting the Special Olympics Maryland “Flame of Hope” from five (5) separate points around the county to Westminster. There they will join together and officially present the Flame of Hope in a brief ceremony at noon at City Hall. It is the duty of these Law Enforcement Torch Runners to ensure that the Flame is protected until it is delivered to the waiting hands of Special Olympics athletes on Friday, June 5th at the Opening Ceremony for the Special Olympic Maryland Summer Games held at Towson University, Towson Maryland.

This portion of the Torch Run Relay is part of the Central Leg, and Torch Run volunteers from the Maryland State Police, Sykesville PD, Hampstead PD, Manchester PD, Taneytown PD, Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, the McDaniel College Office of Campus Safety, Springfield Hospital Police, State Fire Marshal’s Office, Office of the State’s Attorney, Maryland Police Training Commission and Westminster PD will escort the flame through various municipalities around the County, eventually converging at McDaniel College and traveling in a unified “Final Leg” along Main Street to City Hall in Westminster. The law enforcement volunteers are raising funds in conjunction with the run by selling Torch Run T-shirts, holding events, and soliciting donations. (See end of press release for details on each of the 6 legs).

“We are proud to join our brother and sister law enforcement and correctional officers from around the world in demonstrating our support for these very special members of our community,” stated Chief Jeff Spaulding of the Westminster Police Department. “We are particularly pleased that we will be joined on each of our runs by Special Olympics athletes from right here in Carroll County. It is a great opportunity to further strengthen the long-standing relationship between law enforcement and Special Olympics that we enjoy in Maryland.” Chief Spaulding invites the community to attend a short ceremony at Westminster City Hall following the Final Leg during which the Special Olympics Athletes who participate as Torch Runners will be honored for their participation.

Statewide, the Maryland Torch Run Relay consists of four different legs – Eastern, Western, Central and Southern – and during the week of June 1st to 5th, thousands of law enforcement Torch Run volunteers will cover hundreds of miles, eventually converging on Towson where the individual flames will be united in the Final Leg Ceremony, and then officers from around the state will travel the final three (3) miles to the Summer Games Opening Ceremonies at Towson University. It is there that the “Flame of Hope” is handed off to Special Olympics athletes who have the honor of lighting the cauldron and officially declaring the 2009 SOMD Summer Games open. Carroll County will be represented by Chief Jeff Spaulding and other members of the Westminster PD in the Final Leg on Friday, June 5th.

The Maryland Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics is a year-round movement whose goal is to raise both funds and public awareness for the athletes who train and compete in Special Olympics Maryland. When it began in 1986, only a handful of officers participated, raising about $50,000. Since that time, the Maryland Torch Run has grown tremendously, including volunteer officers from nearly every law enforcement agency and correctional facility in Maryland, raising more than $3.8 million for Special Olympics Maryland in 2008 – the largest single fund raising effort for Special Olympics in the world.

For more information about the Carroll County Torch Run Relay, or to support the Torch Run Relay by purchasing a commemorative Torch Run T-shirt for $10, contact the Westminster Police Department at (410) 848-4646. For more information about Special Olympics Maryland and the 2009 Summer Games, contact Kelley Wallace at (410) 789-6677 x117 or visit http://www.somd.org/.

THE CARROLL COUNTY TORCH RUN EVENT INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING LEGS:

Sykesville Leg – Members of the Maryland State Police, Maryland Police Training Commission, Sykesville PD, and the Springfield Hospital Police. Runners/bicyclists will depart Maryland Police Training Commission Training Facility @ 8:15 AM and travel north on Route 32, Johnsville Road, west on Liberty Road to Route 97, to McDaniel College.

Hampstead/Manchester Leg – Members of the Hampstead PD, and Manchester PD. Runners and bicyclists will depart Manchester PD @ 9:00 AM and travel south on Route 27 to McDaniel College.

Taneytown Leg – Members of the Taneytown Police Department, Office of the State Fire Marshall and the Carroll County Crisis Response Team. Runners/bicyclists will depart the Taneytown Bowling Center @ 9:00 AM and travel east on Route 140 to WMC Drive to McDaniel College.

Mt. Airy Leg – Members of the Maryland State Police. Runners/bicyclists will depart Mt. Airy @ 8:00 AM and travel north on Route 27 to McDaniel College.

Union Bridge/New Windsor Leg – Members of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office. Runners/bicyclists will depart the Union Bridge Fire Hall @ 9:00 AM and travel east through New Windsor on Route 31 to McDaniel College.

Final Leg – Includes all participating law enforcement agencies in Carroll County (see above) to include members of the McDaniel College Department of Campus Safety, Office of the State’s Attorney and Westminster Police Department. Runners/bicyclists will depart McDaniel College @ noon and travel east along Main Street to City Hall where a Torch Run welcoming ceremony and celebration will take place.

# # #

Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: www.kevindayhoff.net
Kevin Dayhoff Art: www.kevindayhoffart.com
Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: www.westgov.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff
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Kevin Dayhoff: www.westgov.net Westminster Maryland Online www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/