eSpecially Ben

Two different moms wrote to me on the Full Enough post and I thought they were important enough to re-post their comments here: My 10 year old son, Sam, and I attended the ceremony today after seeing your story on the news a few days ago. As soon as the story ended, he looked at me and asked if I would take him. Since we live in Gaston County, it is our spring break. I knew it was something we had to do! I felt truly blessed to be a part of today's events. I have been working with special needs children for almost 9 years now, and I realize just how special these kids truly are! Sam had an amazing time and is also proud of all of the athletes! Thank you for getting the word out! We hope to be there next year! Good luck Ben!!!!! -- Donna Kostiuk I was debating on texting my son's teacher to find out what time and if the parents could go to the Opening Ceremony when I saw Astrid Martinez on WBTV yesterday morning. I ran into one of the cameramen for WBTV and thanked them

The pastor at our family's church, Sara Ilderton, attended the Special Olympics Opening Ceremonies on Tuesday. It was her first time attending, and the experience was quite more than she had bargained for. Pastor Sara writes a blog, and I have re-posted this with her permission, and added the photos to give a visual to her story.   She has captured on "paper" what many of us felt. About a minute-and-a-half after the athletes started coming in,  I wanted to knock Ethan out …He’s our Minister of Youth & Families. He was standing right beside me, and his constant “whoop-whooping” poured down on me from his 6’2” height and echoed throughout the entirety of the Bojangles Coliseum. A bunch of us from the church went to support Ben – St. Luke’s own  Special Olympian (check out  eSpeciallyBen ). Anyhow, Ethan’s excitement and enthusiasm were, quite honestly, more than a little annoying –  at least at first . I’m fairly certain that every person there c

In 2013, my boys and I attended the Mecklenburg County Special Olympics Opening Ceremonies. We were 3 of perhaps 20 spectators. While we had an incredible time, I did wonder how much more fun and special the event could be if more people came to cheer on the athletes. I made myself a promise to bring more people along the following year. In late March 2014, I started a campaign called  Operation: Fill The Stands . The name came from the photo below that I snapped while at the 2013 event. I am an "ask permission first" rather than "ask for forgiveness later" type of person, so I contacted Greg Morrill, director of the Mecklenburg Special Olympics to let him know what I had in mind. At that point of contact, I was hoping for a few extra people. With Mr. Morrill's blessing, I sent out 100 emails to family, friends and a few acquaintances expecting 20-30 more people to attend. On my Facebook page and blog, I posted the photo and asked for ways to get more spe