COMMITTEE SPOTLIGHT

SPECIAL OLYMPICS

By Ann D. Zeigler

Got a contacts list on your computer and Blackberry? Have or had kids in school (any age, anywhere in the Houston area)? Belong to any group (organized and official or otherwise)? Have relatives in town? Then this committee is looking for you, and all your friends and acquaintances, and all their friends and acquaintances, for short periods of intense activity, at sporting events for mentally and/or physically challenged athletes of all ages.
The Houston Bar’s Web site list of committees describes the Special Olympics Committee this way: “This committee coordinates and recruits volunteers in support of Texas Special Olympics sports activities.” This year’s co-chairs are Gina M. Joseph of Henke & Joseph, LLP and Scott Brann of the Brann Law Firm.
The committee, which has been active since the late 1980s, meets monthly at the Special Olympics Houston offices, located at Mangum at Hwy 290. The meetings are not “talk-about” sessions, but planning meetings to organize recruits from the Houston area to work at Special Olympics sporting events throughout the year. The committee members have one assignment—find people of all ages and descriptions to work as volunteers at specific events. It is NOT a fundraising group for Special Olympics. (The Houston Young Lawyers Association has a completely separate Special Olympics committee that does raise funds).
The sporting events take place at venues all over the Houston metropolitan area, and most take place on one weekend day. The events include soccer, track, tennis, table tennis, basketball and cycling in the spring, and softball, bocce, bowling, golf and water sports in the fall. In any given year, the HBA committee will recruit and organize volunteers for four or five events per season. This year, the committee logged a record 3,000 volunteer hours.
Each committee member chooses one event per season for volunteer recruiting. This includes finding people to work during specific shift times at a designated location for the chosen sporting event. The committee member is responsible, in coordination with Special Olympics personnel, to schedule his or her own volunteers directly for job shifts at specific events. Several of the sports take place at multiple locations, so committee members can choose a location close to the committee member’s friends and acquaintances. For example, there are six basketball venues around Houston. Gina needed 100 volunteers at her location for a tournament taking place simultaneously in four gyms, with lunch, “special events” (board games, karaoke, and other fun events for athletes to participate in during times when they are not competing) and one basketball game per hour on a Saturday and half of the following Sunday.
One of Gina’s goals when she began chairing the committee was to avoid having to “reinvent the wheel” each year as new members join, and old members leave, the Committee. Last year, Gina and the committee created a committee resource notebook that sets forth the responsibilities of committee members and lists contacts at schools, churches, community service organizations and other groups identified by committee members. This year, she and Scott have maintained the notebook so that the committee can coordinate from year to year with these sources of volunteers. They also have started a scrapbook of events.
Like some other HBA committees, this one is a family opportunity. Among one of the many volunteer opportunities available: cheering on the Special Olympics athletes as they compete and during the awards ceremonies. No experience needed. No age limit (however, children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult). No law license required. Need not be fluent in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Arabic, Swahili or any other language. No need to know the rules for any particular sport. Good lung function a plus. Must bring large quantities of enthusiasm and share it with others.
We asked Gina why she keeps coming back to this committee. She wasn’t shy about her love for what this group does: “It’s so worth it—it’s amazing! It’s for the whole family!”

Ann Zeigler is a partner at Hughes Watters Askanase LLP and a member of The Houston Lawyer editorial board.

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