Special Olympics volunteers focus on assisting athletes

When two volunteers for Special Olympics Montana speak about their work with the organization that serves those with intellectual disabilities, the conversation always steers back to the athletes at the center of the program.

Karen Kimball was a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department when she first became involved in Special Olympics, and later in retirement she would spend about 20 years as the coordinator for the Special Olympics Winter Games in Whitefish.

“The athletes serve as an inspiration,” Kimball said. “We think we’re giving to them, but they’re giving to us.”

Nina Stefani began working on a fundraiser for Special Olympics through her job at Glacier Restaurant Group, and now the Columbia Falls resident serves on the Board of Directors for SOMT.

“It’s been an amazing opportunity to volunteer and I’ve made a lifetime of friends,” she said. “Everyone is so amazing — the athletes, the coaches, the families and the community.”

The women are amongst a list of 50 honorees selected by Special Olympics Montana in celebration of the organization’s 50 years of work assisting in using sports as a catalyst to include and empower those with intellectual disabilities. More than 10,000 athletes have participated in SOMT over the past 50 years.

SOMT is part of more than 80 communities across Montana and serves more than 3,400 athletes. The statewide nonprofit organization provides year-round sports training, athletic competition, health-related programming and leadership programs for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

As a member of law enforcement, Kimball was invited to participate in handing out medals at an awards ceremony in California and then just kept volunteering over the years.

When she and her husband retired to Montana, Kimball again began volunteering with the organization locally. When a volunteer was needed to coordinate the statewide Winter Games at Whitefish Mountain Resort she stepped up by spending a few months each year in the process of organizing, coordinating and recruiting other volunteers to assist with running the games.

Kimball points out that she was certainly not the only volunteer who stepped up for the Winter Games — there were folks to serve food, help with the parade downtown, be ski buddies for the athletes and assist with opening ceremonies.

“I’m not the only one who volunteered,” she said. “For the Winter Games they just needed somebody to be in charge of the organizing and I could devote the time to doing that.”

Kimball speaks fondly of the athletes and volunteers she met during her time working with SOMT.

“Some of the athletes I got to see for years and they’d always recognize me,” she said. “They would travel long distances to compete and I’d always get to see them come back and participate again.”

Stefani, who is the director of human resources at Glacier Restaurant Group, began working with SOMT when the company was approached in 2011 about hosting Tip-A-Cop events at MacKenzie River Pizza Co. restaurants. Special Olympics athletes and members of law enforcement work at the restaurants on designated nights earning tip donations for SOMT.

Stefani said the program began at the Whitefish location, spread to the Flathead Valley and then around the state.

She began her career as a server at MacKenzie River in Whitefish, and today lights up when she talks about returning to her roots on Tip-A-Cop nights to help other volunteers. Athletes and law enforcement members work alongside servers at the restaurants, and while the evenings provide financial support for the nonprofit, Stefani says, the really amazing part is watching the athletes.

“It empowers them to learn new skills they might not have otherwise,” she said. “They refill drinks, help take orders and make pizza. One owner of a MacKenzie River hired one of the athletes after the event. They’re getting opportunities they might not have otherwise.”

Stefani says those evenings always give her a “perma-smile” that makes her face ache from being so happy.

After several years of facilitating the fundraiser nights, Stefani was approached about joining the SOMT board. She jumped into the role in 2014 traveling to as many Special Olympics events across the state as she could, meeting athletes, parents, coaches and other volunteers.

“I threw myself into volunteering and it filled a place in my heart that I didn’t know was empty,” Stefani said. “So much good comes out of it.”

Stefani says she feels privileged to be able to assist with SOMT though her job, but also as a volunteer.

“I’ve gone to the games throughout the years to see the athletes and now I have friends all across the state and I wouldn’t have had that,” she said. “I’ve had so many amazing mentors who have welcomed me with open arms. I’ve met so many amazing people and I’ve learned so much from the athletes.”

For more information about SOMT, visit https://www.somt.org/