Special Olympics Michigan launches $20 million 'Building Tomorrow's Champions' campaign to fundraise for new facility

Jun. 25—GRAND RAPIDS — Special Olympics Michigan announced a new campaign Thursday to raise over $20 million for a new facility for athletes in Grand Rapids. The organization says once completed, the facility will be the largest dedicated for Special Olympics in the world.

SOMI provides year-round sports training and athletic competition to children and adults with intellectual disabilities and serves more than 23,000 athletes and their families through 24 sports.

Fundraising for the "Building Tomorrow's Champions" campaign began last year, and it has already raised close to $7 million of its $20 million goal, Campaign Co-Chair and WZZM 13 lead anchor Juliet Dragos said. The facility will be at the former Grand Rapids South Christian High School campus.

Renovations will see the 127,000-square-foot campus add new sports fields, expanded space for programming, administrative offices, and educational and wellness space for those served by Special Olympics and its partners. SOMI hopes to host regional, statewide, national and international competitions once renovations are completed.

Organizers say the campus will also generate economic effects for the region, bringing in athletes and organizations from across the world to West Michigan.

"I don't think it would be an overstatement to say that what happens in this facility will touch, in some way shape or form, nearly every family in this community," said Small Business Administration of Michigan President and former Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, one of the campaign's co-chairs. "It will make our community better and stronger."

Campaign and SOMI officials say the facility will serve as a hub for inclusion in the region.

Agencies to partner with SOMI to lease the campus once it's completed includes Autism Support of Kent County, Brody's Be Café, Disability Advocates of Kent County, Down Syndrome Association of West Michigan, Far Out Volleyball Club, Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan/be nice, MOKA and Thresholds.

Organizers say more than 100 community donors, local businesses, and area foundations have supported the campaign to date.

— Contact reporter Arpan Lobo at alobo@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @arpanlobo.

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