|
Dear Special Olympics athletes, families, and volunteers,
Happy New Year! My name is Jamie Brown, the new Regional
Director for Special Olympics Southern California in
San Diego County. I have been on board for a few short
months, and have been able to meet many of you, but
hope to meet many more in the near future. I worked
for YMCA of San Diego County for seven years in the
area of youth development, and have loved being a part
of this vibrant community. It's nice that despite the
many adversities we faced in 2007, both as an organization
and a community, we can now approach 2008 with new vigor
and spirit. I look forward to working alongside each
of you to make Special Olympics in San Diego the best
it can be!
The
San Diego staff has undergone significant changes in
the past year. Aside from my position, we have also
hired a new Volunteer Manager, Teresa Contreras, who
also oversees our Torch Run activities with the local
law enforcement in SD County. Teresa comes to us from
the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society where she directed
Teams in Training in an effort to raise money and awareness.
She has been with us for three months and has already
raised money, awareness, and built relationships with
local agencies.
We are sad to announce the resignation of Sports Manager,
Dino Lagui, who worked with SOSC North San Diego for
over three years. He will be sorely missed. Jonathan
Richards will be joining us February 4th, to fill Dino's
position, and to help us kick off our Spring/Summer
sports season. Kelcie Kopf is doing a tremendous job
of juggling two sports positions during the time being!
As Manager of Regional Sports, she has worked diligently
to locate practice sites and times, and is working to
recruit more Head Coaches and Assistant Coaches for
our Spring/Summer sports season as we speak!
Another
noteworthy change is that of our decision to close the
North County office. The decision was predicated upon
the City's need for more office space as well as our
need to cut some costs so we could free up money for
program development. Though it was advantageous to have
a centralized "hub" in North County, we feel that the
same quality of customer service will occur because
of our commitment to you. Judy Millburn, our Administrative
Assistant, is doing an amazing job juggling the demands
of North and South counties, as we move toward a true
"centralization" of all programming efforts countywide.
Randy
Schubert, consultant for SOSC, and former acting Regional
Director, is still offering his support and 30 plus
years of Special Olympics experience and advice to help
us align ourselves with the Global Movement of Special
Olympics. I invite you to read more about this movement
at www.specialolympics.org,
and would like to remind each of you, that we are extremely
committed to the policies, guidelines, and of course,
the strategic plan, of SOSC. I am so excited that you
are involved with Special Olympics and that you have
found a home with us. If I could have one wish for this
year, it would be that each of you find peace and joy…and
if Special Olympics has a small part in your peace and
joy, even better!
Sincerely,
Jamie
Brown
Regional Director
|
