Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: It's Later with Mo Kelly KFI AM six forty live
Speaker 2: everywhere in the iHeartRadio app. We're live on YouTube, and
Speaker 2: we're live on Instagram. Let me tell you about the
Speaker 2: Special Olympics of Southern California. Well, they've announced the launch
Speaker 2: of its twenty twenty five Dream Big Raffle, the organization's
Speaker 2: largest annual fundraiser, featuring over twenty eight hundred prizes, including
Speaker 2: luxury vehicles, cash vacations, and a grand prize choice between
Speaker 2: a custom custom Southern California home or one million dollars
Speaker 2: in cash. And if you didn't know, coming up on
Speaker 2: June sixth at Long Beach, cal State Long Beach, they
Speaker 2: have the Summer Games, the Southern California Special Olympic Summer
Speaker 2: Games are coming in hot as they say, June six
Speaker 2: at cal State Long Beach. And to talk about all
Speaker 2: of this and even more is Kelly Pond, President and
Speaker 2: CEO for the Special Olympics of Southern California.
Speaker 3: Kelly's nice to meet you. It's good to see you.
Speaker 3: Thank you for coming out tonight.
Speaker 4: Wonderful to be here.
Speaker 5: Mo. Thank you so much for having me and I
Speaker 5: love the intro music. It's getting me in the getting
Speaker 5: me in the spirit, feeling great.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you, did you choose this or did
Speaker 2: this choose you?
Speaker 4: What a beautiful question. I believe it chose me.
Speaker 5: I started as a volunteer with Special Olympics twenty five
Speaker 5: years ago, and I just fell in love with the
Speaker 5: athletes and the mission. I've always been an includer in
Speaker 5: my life growing up, but I never quite understood what
Speaker 5: that meant or where it would take me in that
Speaker 5: it would lead into a career passion. And I've been
Speaker 5: either volunteering or working for Special Olympics ever since.
Speaker 2: Since you began as a volunteer, you've probably no, you've
Speaker 2: obviously seen the evolution of not only the organization but
Speaker 2: the world around it in which we live. Because when
Speaker 2: we talk about the Special Olympics of Southern California, you're
Speaker 2: dealing with athletes with intellectual disabilities. Now that denotation and connotation,
Speaker 2: what we think about that has probably changed over the years.
Speaker 3: How has it changed from where you sit?
Speaker 5: Yes, Well, what I will say is that so many
Speaker 5: people think about Special Olympics because we have the Olympic
Speaker 5: term in our name as this one big sporting event
Speaker 5: a year for kids, right and Special Olympics is actually
Speaker 5: providing year round training and competition and programming for children
Speaker 5: and adults with intellectual disabilities. And our programs are changing
Speaker 5: lives through the power of sport, and so much more
Speaker 5: so when you talk about our participants with intellectual disabilities,
Speaker 5: they through sports are gaining life skills. Our athletes are
Speaker 5: twice as likely to live independently and be employed because
Speaker 5: of the skills.
Speaker 4: That they're learning through Special Olympics.
Speaker 5: And then everyone that is participating their life our lives
Speaker 5: are changed as well because what happens is when you're
Speaker 5: playing or sharing or working alongside a Special Olympics athlete
Speaker 5: and really seeing and celebrating their abilities. It opens hearts
Speaker 5: and minds to people with intellectual disabilities what they actually
Speaker 5: the value that they bring to the community, and it
Speaker 5: creates more inclusive communities. And we have an incredible program
Speaker 5: in the schools. It's a Unified Champion School program where
Speaker 5: students with and without intellectual disabilities are playing or competing
Speaker 5: together their unified clubs on campus and schools that put
Speaker 5: on our Unified Champion School program see a ninety four
Speaker 5: percent reduction in bullying because by general education and special
Speaker 5: education students working together, they're building relationships and those as
Speaker 5: students are sticking up for their teammates and unified sports.
Speaker 2: Talk to me about some of these skills that they're learning,
Speaker 2: some of the classes that they may be taking, some
Speaker 2: of the experiences that they may be exposed to in
Speaker 2: their development.
Speaker 5: Absolutely well, a big part of the program, and this
Speaker 5: is for any of us that play sports. If you
Speaker 5: look at the sports part of our program, when you
Speaker 5: join a team, you are automatically learning skills about building friendships,
Speaker 5: about teamwork, about working with one another. You're learning from
Speaker 5: your coach, so you're learning how to build strengths, where
Speaker 5: to build on your weaknesses.
Speaker 4: So all of these skills.
Speaker 5: That we all learn in sports are incredibly valuable also
Speaker 5: for our Special Olympics athletes. But it also is giving
Speaker 5: them a space where they see they're in a safe space,
Speaker 5: where they see other people that are excelling, are doing
Speaker 5: more than they ever thought was possible, and this is
Speaker 5: really pushing their teammates to do more and see what's
Speaker 5: possible as well.
Speaker 2: I'm just realizing this. Maybe I'm just on a late fray.
Speaker 2: But this is year round though this is not seasonal
Speaker 2: in any way, is it.
Speaker 5: That's correct? It is seasonal, Like right now, we're in
Speaker 5: our spring sports season and it'll culminate Our string sports
Speaker 5: season will culminate with our summer games championships, which you mentioned.
Speaker 5: We also have. Our summer sports season is bowling. We
Speaker 5: have a fall sports season where we offer soccer, softball, volleyball, tennis, golf,
Speaker 5: and then we have a winter season which is floor ball.
Speaker 5: So we are year round, but we're in seasons.
Speaker 2: Tell me more about this because as we dig down
Speaker 2: and jill down, your deal with and nurturing children of
Speaker 2: varying ages, varying intellectual capabilities, varying levels of comfort of
Speaker 2: those children, dealing with people they may not know depending
Speaker 2: on their particular situation, how do you go about trying
Speaker 2: to have all of it come together? It seems like
Speaker 2: you could be a tremendous undertaking.
Speaker 5: Yeah. One big kind of tagline or initiative that Special
Speaker 5: Olympics had was Special Olympics is training for life, and
Speaker 5: it's a multi layered meaning. And one of the meanings
Speaker 5: is because we are there for children and adults with
Speaker 5: intellectual disabilities. Our programs do span an entire lifetime, so
Speaker 5: we welcome young athletes in our Young Athlete programs, So
Speaker 5: that's two to seven year olds where we're teaching hand
Speaker 5: eye coordinating, you know, basic just skills, and that's open
Speaker 5: to all. And as a matter of fact, it summer
Speaker 5: Games June sixth, seventh, and eighth, we'll have on Saturday
Speaker 5: and Sunday morning Young a Young Athletes Festival, So anybody
Speaker 5: out there who has a two to seven year old
Speaker 5: you can come out and they can participate in the
Speaker 5: Young Athletes activities. And it's for individuals with and without
Speaker 5: intellectual disabilities, and that's.
Speaker 4: Kind of the point of entry.
Speaker 5: And then we have our school programs, which start in
Speaker 5: elementary school, we're in middle schools and high schools. And
Speaker 5: then on a parallel track, we have our community programs
Speaker 5: where individuals as old as we have an eighty three
Speaker 5: year old botchy ball player, So no a maximum here.
Speaker 5: We have something for everyone at Special Olympics. And in
Speaker 5: addition to the sports programs and the school programs, we
Speaker 5: are actually the largest provider of healthcare for people with
Speaker 5: intellectual disabilities. We partner with health practitioners with Kaiser Permanente.
Speaker 5: We provide free health screenings for our athletes, so there's
Speaker 5: many stories where our athletes may not have even realized
Speaker 5: that they needed prescription glasses, and through volunteers and Lions
Speaker 5: Club sponsorship, just last month, we sent over two hundred
Speaker 5: free prescription goggles for the swimmers and glasses to athletes
Speaker 5: that needed them. So the health program is another key
Speaker 5: feature of our offerings.
Speaker 3: My guest right now is Kelly Pond.
Speaker 2: She is President and CEO Special Olympics of Southern California.
Speaker 2: When we get back, we want to talk about their
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five Dream Big Raffle to support athletes and
Speaker 2: community initiatives. That's next on Later with Mo Kelly kfi
Speaker 2: AM since forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: We're live on YouTube and Instagram at mister bo Kelly
Speaker 2: our m OK E L L Y.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: kfi AM six forty.
Speaker 3: It's Later with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 2: We're live on YouTube, the iHeartRadio app and also Instagram
Speaker 2: if youre just tuning in. My guest in studio is
Speaker 2: Kelly Pond, who is the president and CEO for Special
Speaker 2: Olympics of Southern California. They've launched their twenty twenty five
Speaker 2: Dream Big Raffle to support their athletes and community initiatives.
Speaker 3: And Kelly, let's pick up right there.
Speaker 2: Tell me about the Dream Big Raffle in general and
Speaker 2: how people can get involved this year.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, thank you for asking.
Speaker 5: And before I talk about the Dream Big Raffle, I
Speaker 5: want to first say that all the programs that we
Speaker 5: just talked about in the earlier segment were able to
Speaker 5: provide all of those programs one hundred percent free to
Speaker 5: the athletes and their families because of promotions like the
Speaker 5: Dream Big Raffle. So we like to say the Dream
Speaker 5: Big Raffles really a win win because anybody that participates,
Speaker 5: not only do they have a one and a twenty
Speaker 5: chance of winning a prize, but they also are contributing
Speaker 5: to the Special Olympics mission to transform life through the
Speaker 5: power of sport. And the Dream Big Raffle, we're giving
Speaker 5: away thousands of prizes and a chance to win vacations, vehicles,
Speaker 5: and a grand prize for a chance to win a
Speaker 5: dream home or one million dollars.
Speaker 2: You know, when you say one million, you're supposed to
Speaker 2: put your pinkup like this like one million dollars.
Speaker 4: Do that way better than me? I love it.
Speaker 3: We talk about movies, so I had to throw it
Speaker 3: about Austin Powers.
Speaker 5: I think that's awesome and absolutely And actually this Friday
Speaker 5: is the last chance we're closing ticket sales, so we
Speaker 5: want everyone, we don't want anyone to miss an opportunity
Speaker 5: to win all of these incredible prizes, including.
Speaker 3: The one mone.
Speaker 5: I love It. Tickets are one hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 5: You can go to SOOSC dot org in order to
Speaker 5: get all of the information. And yeah, we are excited
Speaker 5: to have this be an incredible fundraiser to help us
Speaker 5: raise funds to support our athletes and programs.
Speaker 2: Let me talk some more with you about the athletes,
Speaker 2: and they are those with intellectual disabilities. But that is
Speaker 2: such a wide spectrum, no pun intended of people that
Speaker 2: you're dealing with.
Speaker 3: What are you seeing?
Speaker 2: What types of disabilities are you being confronted with?
Speaker 5: Yeah, we, as we talked about, our athletes are all
Speaker 5: ages with all different types of abilities. So, and we
Speaker 5: also offer programs for people without intellectual disabilities with our
Speaker 5: unified pro So we're bringing people with and without intellectual
Speaker 5: disabilities together for Unified. So we like to say there's
Speaker 5: something for everyone at Special Olympics. And one of the
Speaker 5: things that when you ask the question about how our
Speaker 5: athletes lives are changed, what types of things are learning.
Speaker 5: Another program that we have is our Athlete Leadership program,
Speaker 5: where athletes are really learning different skills on how to
Speaker 5: talk about how Special Olympics has changed their lives out
Speaker 5: in the community, and they also are stepping up to
Speaker 5: work and be alongside us and delivering our programs. One
Speaker 5: of our most popular athlete leadership activities now is our
Speaker 5: athletes want to learn to be coaches. They want to
Speaker 5: coach their fellow athletes, and so that's another part of
Speaker 5: our athlete leadership program. So really what we're trying to
Speaker 5: do is help provide the support and the tools everyone
Speaker 5: our athletes, our Unified partners, can be the best that
Speaker 5: they could be.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna throw you a curveball, yeah, And I was
Speaker 2: just thinking about this in the moment. I suspect over
Speaker 2: the many years in which you've been associated with the organization,
Speaker 2: there are particular names, there are particular stories for particular
Speaker 2: people who may come to mind. Whereas like I saw
Speaker 2: how Special Olympics of Southern California transformed her.
Speaker 3: Life and now she is dot dot do who comes
Speaker 3: to mind?
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, Well, as you started asking that question,
Speaker 5: my mind was flooded with stories. You know, One specific
Speaker 5: story that stands out and hits a lot of the
Speaker 5: different programs that we offer is my colleague, Dustin Plunkett.
Speaker 5: And when I first started Special Olympics, Dustin just started
Speaker 5: going through our athlete leadership training program. At that time,
Speaker 5: it was called a global Messenger program, and that was
Speaker 5: and we still have that, but being an athlete leader
Speaker 5: involved so many other opportunities U twenty years later now,
Speaker 5: but Dustin has built an incredible portfolio of experiences and
Speaker 5: accomplishments since joining Special Olympics. And while he while I
Speaker 5: saw him starting as a global messenger, he has since
Speaker 5: become an ESPN commentator.
Speaker 4: For our World Games.
Speaker 5: He works at Special Olympics. He has served on the
Speaker 5: board of Directors. He has worked at Special Olympics World Games.
Speaker 5: He also has an incredible story. I mentioned the Healthy
Speaker 5: Athletes program. The Healthy Athletes program saved his life. He
Speaker 5: went through the dental screening program and nobody tells this
Speaker 5: story better than him, but essentially, the dental practitioner that
Speaker 5: did his check told him and his coach that he
Speaker 5: needed to go see a dentist. They found cancer, they
Speaker 5: were able to remove it, and thank goodness, he's able
Speaker 5: to now talk to others about the importance of getting
Speaker 5: the health screenings in order to not only help improve
Speaker 5: health and wellness, but also it could be life saving.
Speaker 2: That's the voice of Kelly Pond, President and CEO the
Speaker 2: Special Olympics of Southern California. This Pond, Can I get
Speaker 2: you to stay around for one more second? Because I
Speaker 2: want to make sure that we reach as many people
Speaker 2: as possible to inform them of what they need to
Speaker 2: do when they need to do it by as in
Speaker 2: this Friday, so we can get the biggest benefit and
Speaker 2: turnout for this twenty twenty five dream big raffle.
Speaker 3: Can you help me out?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, we'd love to.
Speaker 2: It's Later with Moe Kelly KFI AM six forty Live everywhere,
Speaker 2: on YouTube, the iHeartRadio app, and Instagram.
Speaker 3: Come join the conversation.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty Lay with.
Speaker 3: Kelly on k.
Speaker 1: And six.
Speaker 2: Live everywhere on YouTube, the iHeartRadio app, and Instagram, and
Speaker 2: if you're just tuning in, I'm continuing my conversation with
Speaker 2: Kelly Pond, who's president and CEO with Special Olympics of
Speaker 2: Southern California, and we're joined together because we're talking about
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty five Dream Big Raffle to support athletes
Speaker 2: and community initiatives, which closes this Friday, So people need
Speaker 2: to hurry up and get on it, and do I
Speaker 2: have this right? They can go to a excuse me,
Speaker 2: SOSC dot org.
Speaker 5: That's correct, SICC dot org to buy your tickets. Tickets
Speaker 5: are one hundred and fifty dollars. You can buy a
Speaker 5: multipack of tickets and it's a one in twenty five
Speaker 5: chance of winning a prize. We're giving over two thousand,
Speaker 5: eight hundred prizes away, including a chance at a Southern
Speaker 5: California Dream.
Speaker 4: Home or Okay, you're looking at.
Speaker 5: You, that's right, So you go to so osc dot
Speaker 5: org for all the details. This Friday is the deadline
Speaker 5: to buy tickets and then we will do the grand
Speaker 5: prize draw all the winners on June twelfth.
Speaker 2: June twelfth, but also very quickly I started the conversation
Speaker 2: talking about what was going to happen on June six
Speaker 2: at cal State Long Beach. As far as the Summer Games,
Speaker 2: can you tell me about that?
Speaker 4: Absolutely?
Speaker 5: So, our Special Olympics Summer Games Championships at cal State
Speaker 5: Long Beach June sixth, seventh, and eighth O is our
Speaker 5: championship competition for the athletes that have been training and
Speaker 5: competing in our spring sports season. They'll be over twelve
Speaker 5: hundred athletes competing and will be competing in basketball.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's not a small number.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a great time. And you know, one hundred
Speaker 5: percent free to come out and watch the athletes and
Speaker 5: cheer them all.
Speaker 2: Say that again, Stefan, She said, free is in free
Speaker 2: ninety nine free.
Speaker 4: Ooh, I like it. Okay, that's awesome.
Speaker 5: We want to fill this dand so we have our
Speaker 5: athletes competing in basketball, track and field, swimming, BATCHI ball.
Speaker 5: So you come on out, you cheer on our athletes.
Speaker 5: We also could still use some volunteers. You can go
Speaker 5: to that same website SOOSC dot org and you can
Speaker 5: look at volunteer opportunities. All of these programs are one
Speaker 5: hundred percent free to the athletes and their families, So
Speaker 5: buy a dream big raffle ticket, support our athletes, get
Speaker 5: your own chance to win a twenty one and twenty
Speaker 5: five chance of winning a prize all to support our athletes.
Speaker 5: And then you can come and see your support in
Speaker 5: action by watching our athletes at Summer Games.
Speaker 2: When we began our conversation, I was asking you a
Speaker 2: semi personal question as far as some of the personal
Speaker 2: memories you have of an individual or individuals who've come
Speaker 2: through the program and have gone on to do successful things.
Speaker 3: I imagine, But tell me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 2: I imagine when you get to watch the Summer Games,
Speaker 2: or you get to watch these children turn into adults,
Speaker 2: you might drop a tier every now and then.
Speaker 5: It's hard to find someone that wouldn't. Yeah, it's absolutely correct.
Speaker 5: The inspiration that our athletes show when they're out on
Speaker 5: the field is inspiring. And most people say that when
Speaker 5: they volunteer, they get so much more than they actually give.
Speaker 5: And so you come out to the games and you
Speaker 5: get hooked.
Speaker 3: One more time.
Speaker 2: For those who weren't listening or just may have joined
Speaker 2: the conversation, how can they go about getting their raffle
Speaker 2: ticket to support athletes and community initiatives for the Special
Speaker 2: Elements of Southern California as part of the Dream Big Raffle.
Speaker 5: Absolutely go to SOOSC dotorg for information on our Dream
Speaker 5: Big Raffle. Tickets are one hundred and fifty dollars or
Speaker 5: there's multi ticket packs. You have a one and twenty
Speaker 5: five chance of winning a prize, including that grand prize
Speaker 5: of a Dream Big Raffle or one million allion dollars.
Speaker 2: Kelly Pom, this is the first time we had the
Speaker 2: opportunity or the occasion to have a conversation, but can
Speaker 2: we make this an annual conversational Whenever you have anything
Speaker 2: that you would like to highlight with the Special Olympics
Speaker 2: of Southern California, I'd be honored and please to have
Speaker 2: you back anytime.
Speaker 4: I would love it. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Mo.
Speaker 2: It's Later with Mo Kelly CAFI AM six forty. We're
Speaker 2: live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app, We're still live on YouTube,
Speaker 2: and we're still live on Instagram at mister Mo Kelly,
Speaker 2: m R M O K E L L Y.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty