February. What. A. Month! Special O on the Coast definitely put the FUN in fundraising!
Tim Hortons Donut Day was a smashing success across Canada with $884,000 raised in total. Special Olympics Sunshine Coast curling team and other athletes and coaches visited the Timmy’s in Gibsons and bought several donuts and encouraged fellow customers to do the same.
While I munched, I had a sit down with Gavyn Weiner to discuss his new certification as a curling coach. Gavyn’s been living on the Sunshine Coast for about four years with local roots dating back about 20 years. On top of curling, he is also getting involved with the Orca swim team. Gavyn sees the value of Special O and appreciates the enthusiasm of the athletes on the curling team. “They’re competitive but at the same time it’s a fun environment.” He hopes to work with the more competitive bunch to really develop them into big time challengers taking on provincial and national competition.
All told, it was a great day. Thanks to assistant coach Randy for being such a great liaison with Oliver at the Gibsons Tim Hortons and for setting up such a great group photo!
Randy Younghusband also wears many other hats including SOSC local and program coordinator, working with the executive to keep everything running smoothly. In addition to being head coach of the Sunshine Coast Raven Softball Team and assistant coach for the curling team, Randy has also been working at Sunshine Coast Association for Community Living (SCACL) as a training and technology manager for about 20 years. He helps to train onboarding staff while looking after the tech and social media. Outside of S.O. Randy values sports as a tool to unite folks from all walks of life and is involved with other sports in the community. He has acted as a referee for hockey and has played badminton, fast and slo-pitch baseball.
You may have already heard about this year’s plunge that runs from Feb. 17 until March 3. Local athletes, community organizations and individuals gathered at Friendship Rotary Park in Sechelt on Feb. 21 for the Plunge. Clarence Li, executive director at SCACL and Randy organized the event in association with Special Olympics Sunshine Coast. Pizza, timbits, java and hot chocolate were supplied for the dunkers. The atmosphere for the day was bright, cheery and among the chattering teeth there were smiles aplenty.
Donations are still coming in and currently the total for across B.C. is over $40,000. Locally, we have raised over $5,000 at the time of writing.
As March begins, we close the fall/winter season with a regional qualifier meet for the Orca Swim Team on March 17. We also begin making plans for the spring/summer sports to launch in April. Bocce, golf, soccer, softball and track will be raring to go.
Stay tuned for times and venues in my next article where I’ll also report the results from the swim meet.
