You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
It's Later with Mo Kelly KFI AM six forty live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app. We're live on YouTube, and we're live on Instagram. Let me tell you about the
Special Olympics of Southern California. Well, they've announced the launch of its twenty twenty five Dream Big Raffle, the organization's largest annual fundraiser, featuring over twenty eight hundred prizes, including luxury vehicles, cash vacations, and a grand prize choice between a custom custom Southern California home or one million dollars
in cash. And if you didn't know, coming up on June sixth at Long Beach, cal State Long Beach, they have the Summer Games, the Southern California Special Olympic Summer Games are coming in hot as they say, June six at cal State Long Beach. And to talk about all of this and even more is Kelly Pond, President and CEO for the Special Olympics of Southern California.
Kelly's nice to meet you. It's good to see you. Thank you for coming out tonight.
Wonderful to be here.
Mo. Thank you so much for having me and I love the intro music. It's getting me in the getting me in the spirit, feeling great.
Let me ask you, did you choose this or did this choose you?
What a beautiful question. I believe it chose me.
I started as a volunteer with Special Olympics twenty five years ago, and I just fell in love with the athletes and the mission. I've always been an includer in my life growing up, but I never quite understood what that meant or where it would take me in that it would lead into a career passion. And I've been either volunteering or working for Special Olympics ever since.
Since you began as a volunteer, you've probably no, you've obviously seen the evolution of not only the organization but the world around it in which we live. Because when we talk about the Special Olympics of Southern California, you're dealing with athletes with intellectual disabilities. Now that denotation and connotation, what we think about that has probably changed over the years.
How has it changed from where you sit?
Yes, Well, what I will say is that so many people think about Special Olympics because we have the Olympic term in our name as this one big sporting event a year for kids, right and Special Olympics is actually providing year round training and competition and programming for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. And our programs are changing lives through the power of sport, and so much more so when you talk about our participants with intellectual disabilities,
they through sports are gaining life skills. Our athletes are twice as likely to live independently and be employed because of the skills.
That they're learning through Special Olympics.
And then everyone that is participating their life our lives are changed as well because what happens is when you're playing or sharing or working alongside a Special Olympics athlete and really seeing and celebrating their abilities. It opens hearts and minds to people with intellectual disabilities what they actually the value that they bring to the community, and it creates more inclusive communities. And we have an incredible program
in the schools. It's a Unified Champion School program where students with and without intellectual disabilities are playing or competing together their unified clubs on campus and schools that put on our Unified Champion School program see a ninety four percent reduction in bullying because by general education and special education students working together, they're building relationships and those as students are sticking up for their teammates and unified sports.
Talk to me about some of these skills that they're learning, some of the classes that they may be taking, some of the experiences that they may be exposed to in their development.
Absolutely well, a big part of the program, and this is for any of us that play sports. If you look at the sports part of our program, when you join a team, you are automatically learning skills about building friendships, about teamwork, about working with one another. You're learning from your coach, so you're learning how to build strengths, where to build on your weaknesses.
So all of these skills.
That we all learn in sports are incredibly valuable also for our Special Olympics athletes. But it also is giving them a space where they see they're in a safe space, where they see other people that are excelling, are doing more than they ever thought was possible, and this is really pushing their teammates to do more and see what's possible as well.
I'm just realizing this. Maybe I'm just on a late fray. But this is year round though this is not seasonal in any way, is it.
That's correct? It is seasonal, Like right now, we're in our spring sports season and it'll culminate Our string sports season will culminate with our summer games championships, which you mentioned. We also have. Our summer sports season is bowling. We have a fall sports season where we offer soccer, softball, volleyball, tennis, golf, and then we have a winter season which is floor ball. So we are year round, but we're in seasons.
Tell me more about this because as we dig down and jill down, your deal with and nurturing children of varying ages, varying intellectual capabilities, varying levels of comfort of those children, dealing with people they may not know depending on their particular situation, how do you go about trying to have all of it come together? It seems like you could be a tremendous undertaking.
Yeah. One big kind of tagline or initiative that Special Olympics had was Special Olympics is training for life, and it's a multi layered meaning. And one of the meanings is because we are there for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Our programs do span an entire lifetime, so we welcome young athletes in our Young Athlete programs, So that's two to seven year olds where we're teaching hand eye coordinating, you know, basic just skills, and that's open
to all. And as a matter of fact, it summer Games June sixth, seventh, and eighth, we'll have on Saturday and Sunday morning Young a Young Athletes Festival, So anybody out there who has a two to seven year old you can come out and they can participate in the Young Athletes activities. And it's for individuals with and without intellectual disabilities, and that's.
Kind of the point of entry.
And then we have our school programs, which start in elementary school, we're in middle schools and high schools. And then on a parallel track, we have our community programs where individuals as old as we have an eighty three year old botchy ball player, So no a maximum here. We have something for everyone at Special Olympics. And in addition to the sports programs and the school programs, we are actually the largest provider of healthcare for people with
intellectual disabilities. We partner with health practitioners with Kaiser Permanente. We provide free health screenings for our athletes, so there's many stories where our athletes may not have even realized that they needed prescription glasses, and through volunteers and Lions Club sponsorship, just last month, we sent over two hundred free prescription goggles for the swimmers and glasses to athletes that needed them. So the health program is another key feature of our offerings.
My guest right now is Kelly Pond.
She is President and CEO Special Olympics of Southern California. When we get back, we want to talk about their twenty twenty five Dream Big Raffle to support athletes and community initiatives. That's next on Later with Mo Kelly kfi AM since forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. We're live on YouTube and Instagram at mister bo Kelly our m OK E L L Y.
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from kfi AM six forty.
It's Later with Mo Kelly.
We're live on YouTube, the iHeartRadio app and also Instagram if youre just tuning in. My guest in studio is Kelly Pond, who is the president and CEO for Special Olympics of Southern California. They've launched their twenty twenty five Dream Big Raffle to support their athletes and community initiatives.
And Kelly, let's pick up right there.
Tell me about the Dream Big Raffle in general and how people can get involved this year.
Absolutely, thank you for asking.
And before I talk about the Dream Big Raffle, I want to first say that all the programs that we just talked about in the earlier segment were able to provide all of those programs one hundred percent free to the athletes and their families because of promotions like the
Dream Big Raffle. So we like to say the Dream Big Raffles really a win win because anybody that participates, not only do they have a one and a twenty chance of winning a prize, but they also are contributing to the Special Olympics mission to transform life through the power of sport. And the Dream Big Raffle, we're giving away thousands of prizes and a chance to win vacations, vehicles, and a grand prize for a chance to win a dream home or one million dollars.
You know, when you say one million, you're supposed to put your pinkup like this like one million dollars.
Do that way better than me? I love it.
We talk about movies, so I had to throw it about Austin Powers.
I think that's awesome and absolutely And actually this Friday is the last chance we're closing ticket sales, so we want everyone, we don't want anyone to miss an opportunity to win all of these incredible prizes, including.
The one mone.
I love It. Tickets are one hundred and fifty dollars. You can go to SOOSC dot org in order to get all of the information. And yeah, we are excited to have this be an incredible fundraiser to help us raise funds to support our athletes and programs.
Let me talk some more with you about the athletes, and they are those with intellectual disabilities. But that is such a wide spectrum, no pun intended of people that you're dealing with.
What are you seeing?
What types of disabilities are you being confronted with?
Yeah, we, as we talked about, our athletes are all ages with all different types of abilities. So, and we also offer programs for people without intellectual disabilities with our unified pro So we're bringing people with and without intellectual disabilities together for Unified. So we like to say there's something for everyone at Special Olympics. And one of the things that when you ask the question about how our athletes lives are changed, what types of things are learning.
Another program that we have is our Athlete Leadership program, where athletes are really learning different skills on how to talk about how Special Olympics has changed their lives out in the community, and they also are stepping up to work and be alongside us and delivering our programs. One of our most popular athlete leadership activities now is our athletes want to learn to be coaches. They want to coach their fellow athletes, and so that's another part of
our athlete leadership program. So really what we're trying to do is help provide the support and the tools everyone our athletes, our Unified partners, can be the best that they could be.
I'm gonna throw you a curveball, yeah, And I was just thinking about this in the moment. I suspect over the many years in which you've been associated with the organization, there are particular names, there are particular stories for particular people who may come to mind. Whereas like I saw how Special Olympics of Southern California transformed her.
Life and now she is dot dot do who comes to mind?
Oh my gosh, Well, as you started asking that question, my mind was flooded with stories. You know, One specific story that stands out and hits a lot of the different programs that we offer is my colleague, Dustin Plunkett. And when I first started Special Olympics, Dustin just started
going through our athlete leadership training program. At that time, it was called a global Messenger program, and that was and we still have that, but being an athlete leader involved so many other opportunities U twenty years later now, but Dustin has built an incredible portfolio of experiences and accomplishments since joining Special Olympics. And while he while I saw him starting as a global messenger, he has since become an ESPN commentator.
For our World Games.
He works at Special Olympics. He has served on the board of Directors. He has worked at Special Olympics World Games. He also has an incredible story. I mentioned the Healthy Athletes program. The Healthy Athletes program saved his life. He went through the dental screening program and nobody tells this story better than him, but essentially, the dental practitioner that did his check told him and his coach that he
needed to go see a dentist. They found cancer, they were able to remove it, and thank goodness, he's able to now talk to others about the importance of getting the health screenings in order to not only help improve health and wellness, but also it could be life saving.
That's the voice of Kelly Pond, President and CEO the Special Olympics of Southern California. This Pond, Can I get you to stay around for one more second? Because I want to make sure that we reach as many people as possible to inform them of what they need to do when they need to do it by as in this Friday, so we can get the biggest benefit and turnout for this twenty twenty five dream big raffle.
Can you help me out?
Absolutely, we'd love to.
It's Later with Moe Kelly KFI AM six forty Live everywhere, on YouTube, the iHeartRadio app, and Instagram.
Come join the conversation.
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty Lay with.
Kelly on k.
And six.
Live everywhere on YouTube, the iHeartRadio app, and Instagram, and if you're just tuning in, I'm continuing my conversation with Kelly Pond, who's president and CEO with Special Olympics of Southern California, and we're joined together because we're talking about the twenty twenty five Dream Big Raffle to support athletes and community initiatives, which closes this Friday, So people need to hurry up and get on it, and do I have this right? They can go to a excuse me, SOSC dot org.
That's correct, SICC dot org to buy your tickets. Tickets are one hundred and fifty dollars. You can buy a multipack of tickets and it's a one in twenty five chance of winning a prize. We're giving over two thousand, eight hundred prizes away, including a chance at a Southern California Dream.
Home or Okay, you're looking at.
You, that's right, So you go to so osc dot org for all the details. This Friday is the deadline to buy tickets and then we will do the grand prize draw all the winners on June twelfth.
June twelfth, but also very quickly I started the conversation talking about what was going to happen on June six at cal State Long Beach. As far as the Summer Games, can you tell me about that?
Absolutely?
So, our Special Olympics Summer Games Championships at cal State Long Beach June sixth, seventh, and eighth O is our championship competition for the athletes that have been training and competing in our spring sports season. They'll be over twelve hundred athletes competing and will be competing in basketball.
Yes, that's not a small number.
Yeah, it's a great time. And you know, one hundred percent free to come out and watch the athletes and cheer them all.
Say that again, Stefan, She said, free is in free ninety nine free.
Ooh, I like it. Okay, that's awesome.
We want to fill this dand so we have our athletes competing in basketball, track and field, swimming, BATCHI ball. So you come on out, you cheer on our athletes. We also could still use some volunteers. You can go to that same website SOOSC dot org and you can
look at volunteer opportunities. All of these programs are one hundred percent free to the athletes and their families, So buy a dream big raffle ticket, support our athletes, get your own chance to win a twenty one and twenty five chance of winning a prize all to support our athletes. And then you can come and see your support in action by watching our athletes at Summer Games.
When we began our conversation, I was asking you a semi personal question as far as some of the personal memories you have of an individual or individuals who've come through the program and have gone on to do successful things.
I imagine, But tell me if I'm wrong.
I imagine when you get to watch the Summer Games, or you get to watch these children turn into adults, you might drop a tier every now and then.
It's hard to find someone that wouldn't. Yeah, it's absolutely correct. The inspiration that our athletes show when they're out on the field is inspiring. And most people say that when they volunteer, they get so much more than they actually give. And so you come out to the games and you get hooked.
One more time.
For those who weren't listening or just may have joined the conversation, how can they go about getting their raffle ticket to support athletes and community initiatives for the Special Elements of Southern California as part of the Dream Big Raffle.
Absolutely go to SOOSC dotorg for information on our Dream Big Raffle. Tickets are one hundred and fifty dollars or there's multi ticket packs. You have a one and twenty five chance of winning a prize, including that grand prize of a Dream Big Raffle or one million allion dollars.
Kelly Pom, this is the first time we had the opportunity or the occasion to have a conversation, but can we make this an annual conversational Whenever you have anything that you would like to highlight with the Special Olympics of Southern California, I'd be honored and please to have you back anytime.
I would love it. Thank you so much.
Mo.
It's Later with Mo Kelly CAFI AM six forty. We're live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app, We're still live on YouTube, and we're still live on Instagram at mister Mo Kelly, m R M O K E L L Y.
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty