Motionball Marathon of Sport hosted their 12th annual event at City Park in Kelowna on Saturday. This multi-sport event brought together a record-setting 64 special olympics athletes and 400+ members of the community to raise money and awareness for the Special Olympics Canada Foundation. Event director Derek Fuhr tells Castanet that teams of 10 people from local businesses were paired up witha special olympics athlete to play together through a number of different games and sports.
“The beautiful part about this charity is the funds that are raised are from these participants who are playing here today. They go out to their respective friends and families and co-workers and they raise pledge dollars. The very people they are raising the money for end up being their teammates here the day of the event,” said Fuhr.
“Part of what Motion Ball’s mandate is to intrograte, educate and celebrate, and that's exactly what they did on Saturday at City Park, with a goal to raise $125,000 as well. "It’s a very tangible experience where instead of just cutting a cheque and not really knowing where the dollars go, they’re your friends by the end of the day," added Fuhr. "You’re high-fiving them, you’re hugging them, you’re having fun, you’re smiling together and you’re playing sports together.
And there’s a friendship that occurs while they’re playing sport and that’s then beautiful thing about this charity.” Castanet caught up with Special Olympics athlete Ho.