Concert to benefit Special Olympics
Peter Breinholt and Jon Schmidt will be performing in the second annual Special Olympics Benefit Concert tonight. Cost with USU ID is $8.
“The money will be used to expand the [Utah State University] Special Olympic program,” said Jennifer Ermolaev, Special Olympics Finance and Fundraising Coordinator. “We would like to make it possible for our athletes to compete at no cost to them.
“Also, the money will be used to upgrade our uniforms to meet the standards given to us by the state office. Currently we have very limited equipment for our wheelchair competitors. We would like to expand our resources to meet more needs there. Our team is at a point where we could have a lot of expansion, we just need the resources to do it,” she said.
A local a capella group, Eclipse, will open the concert and the entire event will be emceed by Michael Steel from the radio station Q92. The concert will also feature a video of the history and events of the Special Olympics and some interviews with local athletes.
“This year we have done a much better job advertising, so we expect a good turnout. As of today we have already sold 10 times as many tickets as we had last year at this point. The show has been developed to appeal to college students as well as families in the community. It is a great cause which has helped in bringing in a bigger crowd,” Ermolaev said.
The next upcoming event for the Special Olympics in this area is the Invitational.
“Things are coming along very well for the Invitational,” said Sarah Dallof, director of Special Olympic Invitational. “We have had phenomenal support from USU, the state Special Olympics office and all the volunteers that have so willingly given their time and energy.
“We are expecting 350 coaches and athletes at the Invitational. Other than that we have over 100 day-of volunteers ready to work with the athletes as well as the USU Management Team who have been working for months to get this ready,” she said.
Referring to the concert, Ermolaev said, “This whole thing is a result of very dedicated students who have been planning this for the past eight months. They have done a fantastic job with very little outside supervision. The main ones are Tory Neiwert who was in charge of the publicity and had been helped by Bart Liechty. Matt Ormsby is the head of Delegation for the team.
Tickets are available at the USU ticket office in the Taggart Student Center or by calling 797-0305.