SOMO News

Here’s a look back at all of the amazing Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO) events from Feb. 21-27, 2023!

Mizzou Basketball Halftime River Region Check Presentation- Tuesday, Feb. 21

A big thank you to River Region Credit Union for their generous donation last Tuesday night! Two SOMO athletes along with Larry Linthacum (SOMO President and CEO) and Susan Shaffer (SOMO Outreach & Campus Programs Director) received the check on the court at halftime during the Mississippi State game. A great night of tiger basketball and a Mizzou win!

Cops on Top in Rolla – Tuesday, Feb. 21

Officers from the Rolla Police Department took to the roof of the Mobil on the Run at 8 a.m. Help them reach their goal for the SOMO athletes by donating to this page!

Jersey Mike’s makes a difference in Jefferson City- Tuesday, Feb. 21

SOMO partnered up with Jersey Mike’s to support the Lake of the Ozarks Super Plunge! Participants got a free regular sub with a minimum of a $5 donation. A big thank you to Jersey Mikes for helping to support our SOMO athletes!

Unified Intramural Basketball- Tuesday, Feb. 21

A night of Unified Intramural Basketball took place at Missouri State University last Tuesday. Nice job to all the athletes that competed!

Young Athlete Program- Wednesday, Feb. 22

Special Olympics Young Athletes is an early childhood play program for children with and without intellectual disabilities, ages two to seven. Young Athletes introduces basic sport skills, like running, kicking and throwing. Young Athletes offers families, teachers, caregivers and community members the chance to share the joy of sports with all children.

If you missed last week’s program, click here to check out upcoming opportunities!

Tip-A-Cop at Alex’s in Rolla- Wednesday, Feb. 22

Officers from the Rolla Police Department partnered with Alex’s to raise funds for Special Olympics Missouri. Members of these agencies traded in their handcuffs for aprons to volunteer as servers for the evening! 100% of their tips were donated to SOMO!

TLC Fitness Classes- Thursday, Feb. 23

Last Thursday we had another great day of fitness classes at TLC! If you missed this week’s classes, join us next Thursday. These workouts are a great way to get moving and stay fit!

Tip-A-Cop at Colton’s in Rolla- Thursday, Feb. 23

Officers from the MSHP Troop I partnered with Colton’s to raise funds for Special Olympics Missouri. Members of these agencies will be traded in their handcuffs for aprons to volunteer as servers for the evening! 100% of their tips were donated to SOMO!

STL Metro SSD Basketball Tournament- Friday, Feb. 24

A fun day of basketball hosted by a Special School District at Parkway South High School.

There are more upcoming events and basketball tournaments with Special School Districts! Click here to check out our calendar of events.

Lake of the Ozarks Super Plunge, Polar Plunge & Polar Bear Strut- Friday, Feb. 24 & Saturday, Feb. 25

To kick off a weekend full of Polar Plunges, Lake of the Ozarks hosted a Super Plunge on Friday! Brave participants Plunged 24 times in 24 hours! The next day, Lake of the Ozarks hosted the 28th annual Polar Plunge, one of three Polar Plunges that happened across the state Saturday! A chili cook-off and silent auction kicked off the day at 11 a.m. The Parade of Costumes began at 2 p.m. and Plunging at 2:30 p.m.

A team of our own SOMO staff members raised over $1,500 for our athletes. Nice job SOMO Splashers!

“I had a great time! It was fun to be able to participate in something that helps the athlete and have someone from almost every department on our team. I had a blast.”

Melinda Wrye-Washington
Senior Programs Director

Plunging wasn’t the only way to participate on Saturday. The annual Polar Bear Strut 5K fun run was another great way to support our SOMO athletes!

Kirksville Polar Plunge- Saturday, Feb. 25
Plungers raced into the chilly waters of Forest Lake Swimming Beach at Thousand Hills State Park last Saturday to Plunge for a good cause!

Thank you to all of our sponsors for helping make these Plunges possible!

Truman-affiliated teams contributed more than $9,700 to support @SOMissouri during the annual Polar Plunge.

Learn more about Truman’s efforts at https://t.co/xwTezyNpLv. pic.twitter.com/r0kNxJRnwm

— Truman State University (@TrumanState) February 27, 2023

Cape Girardeau Polar Plunge- Saturday, Feb. 25

Cape County Park North hosted the Cape Girardeau Polar Plunge on Saturday. All of the money raised at the 2023 Polar Plunges goes to support our SOMO athletes!

Stay tuned for press releases on the results of all three plunges last weekend!

Be sure to check out our SOMO calendar for all of our upcoming events! If you’d like to volunteer, visit our Volunteer Hub!

Also, check out SOMO on all of your favorite social media platforms!