Going The Extra Smile Volunteers Keep Things Running At Annual Special Olympics Event

At last count, Barb Merritt was helping coordinate 257 volunteers at the Idaho State Special Olympics Winter Games.

The volunteers were outnumbered by just a few athletes at the annual event at Schweitzer Mountain Resort.

Everyone seemed busy.

“Our volunteers are so incredibly good and faithful,” Merritt gushed on Tuesday morning, as athletes were heading from the lodge to the race courses.

Snowshoe teams, Nordic skiing teams and alpine racing teams from around the state gathered here to cheer one another on and win medals for their efforts.

Each team has a coach, who commits to several hours a week for at least two months before the winter games to get the athletes ready.

Heather McPherson, 25, of Salmon, Idaho, was the sole member of Salmon’s alpine racing team.

Her coach, John Gallogly, was at her side.

Gallogly is a volunteer ski patrolman at Lost Pass ski area north of Salmon. On the weekends, he also coaches McPherson, who doesn’t particularly like training, by running gates.

“It’s boring,” she said.

As she took her second run down the intermediate giant slalom course Tuesday morning, her coach warned her to watch for the ruts. Then he skied to the finish line to congratulate her on a fine run, which she executed in a partial snowplow.

“It’s like skiing in canyons,” she said of the ruts.

The Special Olympics Idaho State Winter Games began Sunday and ended Tuesday.

Julie Perchynski has coached the Sandpoint Nordic team for years. She does it for the satisfaction of teaching mentally retarded people a lifetime sport.

“The neat part about doing it from year to year is you get to see them improve,” she said.

Aside from the individual coaches, the regional and state games require a cadre of other volunteers, most of whom come from Sandpoint.

Many of those are students from public, CEDU and other private schools in the area.

“It feels really good to see that people are really excited,” said Jeremy Williams, an honor student who escorted a team during opening ceremonies.

Return volunteers include the Prime Timers, a group of senior citizens who ski together on weekdays and volunteer for the Special Olympics and Jimmie Heuga Snow Express, a race and fund-raiser for multiple sclerosis research.

Several Prime Timers were involved in the tabulation of times and preparation of awards.

“It wouldn’t be possible without all the volunteers,” said Arlene VonWagner, a volunteer who feeds the times into a computer. She met many of the local participants years ago when she worked for Panhandle Special Needs.

“It’s awesome to see everyone come in with their ribbons and medals,” she said. “Then they wear them for weeks. … So many just steal your heart.”

Junior Misses draped the medals around the winners, and filled in for announcer Dan Young, a local real estate agent who has volunteered at the Special Olympics since he was a teenager and has come to know many of the athletes.

Students from CEDU schools were on the sidelines, cheering on the athletes - even those who looked on the brink of giving up.

But volunteers wouldn’t let them.

When two Nordic skiers inched along the short course and one fell down, her opponent stopped and encouraged her to get up.

The dozen volunteers at the finish line also cheered her on, some getting down on their knees.

“Janet, you’re almost there,” they said.

She struggled with her long, unsteady skis and unwieldy poles, and ultimately crawled to the end of the course, into the open arms of volunteers who congratulated her on finishing.

“This community has such a heart. It gives so much to the Special Olympics,” said Merritt, who got time off from her job at Sandpoint Title Insurance to volunteer.

This sidebar appeared with the story: DRAWINGS Raffle tickets

If people want to give more, they can buy a raffle ticket for a 1999 Hyundai Sonata, a trip to Disney World, or a $500 shopping spree at ShopKo for Procter & Gamble products.

Tickets are $5 each and available at CARQUEST Auto Parts and from State Farm Insurance agents. Or call (800) 234-3658. The drawing will be held March 19, but tickets must be purchased by March 15.

Cut in the Spokane edition