The ninth annual Motionball Marathon of Sport fundraiser is scheduled to take place at Kelowna’s City Park on Saturday (Sept. 18), with all proceeds going towards the Special Olympics Canada Foundation.
The fundraising goal for this year is set at $150,000, and the initiative got an early boost from The Valley Gardens, a charitable organization new to Kelowna that donated $10,000 USD to the fundraiser.
“As we begin expanding our horizons, The Valley Guardians is very excited to be planting seeds in Kelowna,” said Braden Hudye, the organization’s co-founder and recipient director.
“With a goal of raising funds to help community initiatives, we felt that supporting motionball Kelowna and the Special Olympics movement would be a perfect fit to make our introductory local mark.”
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The fundraising initiative in Kelowna was able to move forward after regional COVID-19 health measures permit fully vaccinated participants to play alongside their Special Olympic teammates,
“Though safety is the highest priority on everyone’s mind, we’ve still held onto the values you can always expect at any motionball event, put quite simply as fun!”, said Derek Fuhr, motionball Kelowna’s volunteer event director.
He added that the event is a celebration for everyone involved, and a day for the community to come together in a positive manner.
“We believe this type of social connection is something that our city could use a lot more of these days, and we are grateful that this day is once again able to transpire,” said Fuhr.
Through social and sporting events, motionball is a non-profit organization working to introduce the next generation of volunteers and donors to the Special Olympics movement. Across Canada, motionball hosts 50 annual events in 15 cities and on 32 campuses, having donated $14 million to the Special Olympics Canada Foundation since its inception in 2002.
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