Greetings!

This is Cathy Nyrkkanen (Carson’s mom, former area 5 director, current Casper volunteer team coordinator), reaching out on behalf of Casper Special Olympics. We are trying to reestablish our Local Management team for Casper. Some of you may be aware that we have a great need to get our local organizing and management team back on board.

Who out there has an interest in serving on our local management team? Some of the areas where we could really use some help:
Financial oversight and budgeting(2-3 people), Treasurer type position (1 person). To start, I have the team 2023 financial information. This group could review 2023 and help budget the upcoming year. Work in collaboration with the Fundraising committee to make sure we are on track for the team’s financial needs. Starting soon (in the next couple months), the SOWY state office will start providing a monthly PnL financial report for our team account. This group would review and be a liason to SOWY State Office on team accounting.
Team Coordinators – Each Sport has an assigned person who helps track athletes, team registrations for Area and State games, assist with collecting information for ordering team uniforms/apparel etc, help gather team information for state games travel logistics. I think this could be a huge assist to our Coaches.
Uniforms/Equipment manager
Fundraising committee – help plan and organize team fundraisers. Be a liason to the State SOWY office for joint fundraising efforts. Assist with Jackalope Jump, LETR fundraising events, and other other local team specific fundraisers.
Sport Specific/Coaches
Social – Team/athlete gatherings, Coach/Volunteer/Event Hospitality
Volunteer/Coach/Donor Appreciation. Athlete Recognition.
Anything else?
Please get in touch if you have an interest in serving in any of these areas or have ideas/feedback.

Current Team Financials: The Casper team is doing well with approx $50,000 in the team account. I’m still trying to gather and compile all the income/expense info for the Casper team from the State Office (coming soon), but roughly, best estimate, the team needs 30,000 to 40,000 a year to cover travel/lodging, assessment fees, practice facility costs, lift tickets, bowling expenses, golf expenses, uniforms, equipment etc as things currently are with the team. Once we establish our finance & budget group, we will be able to provide better transparency and regular more detailed updates as well as be more proactive in addressing team needs.
In 2023 the majority of funds supporting the Casper team came from the Jackalope Jump, Natrona County Joint Powers Recreation Board grant and The Elks Club Golf Tournament.

Coaches: Please send me your wish lists for any equipment, uniform and training needs. This will help us plan our budget and get the teams everything they need.

Other needs that have been expressed:
-Team Opening Ceremony shirts or jackets
-Secure Storage facility for the Casper Team Equipment and Uniforms. All of Casper’s program equipment is currently stored at the State SOWY office. There is limited space there and there are challenges keeping track and accessing Casper’s equipment while it is stored at the SOWY office.
-Bocce court and equipment
-Additional Cross training/fitness opportunities
-Others?

Casper Team Meeting: Thursday March 21. 5 to 6 pm at Stahoo’s Brewery & Taproom: https://specialolympicscasper.teamapp.com/clubs/850389/events/24420609-casper-special-olympics-meeting?detail=v1&_expiresat=1714521599
This will be a general public meeting to help answer questions and to recruit help in meeting team needs. I hope you can join us!

Casper Special Olympics Website and Team App: https://specialolympicscasper.teamapp.com/clubs/850389?_webpage=v1
Please visit our site to find team practice schedules, upcoming events, sport specific chats. Click “Teams” and then find your sport to see the most recent info that has been posted. It’s not required, but you can also set up a profile using the app function on your phone or desktop. Everyone should be receiving notifications or emails from the website. The emails come from Stackteamapp…special Olympics. Check your junk mail for Stackteamapp and save to your contacts to get all the communication from the site. I’ll send out periodic Casper team emails from this email address, but the best way to stay up to date on team/program info is to get connected on the site/app.

Current Coaching Needs: Basketball Coaches. Basketball started last week. Coach Christine is doing great and we are extremely grateful for her leadership in Basketball. She’s only one Coach for a good size group of basketball players. Please get in touch if you would like to assist the team as a coordinator and/or coach or have any ideas on coaching leads.

Trail Mix Run May 18 – Special Olympics Area 5 Fundraiser. (Area 5 includes Casper) https://specialolympicscasper.teamapp.com/events/24402660?_detail=v1
1. Can we organize a group of athletes to participate in the run? Would anyone like to help lead this?
2. Please help support this event any way you can: Sponsor, participate, share, volunteer etc.

Casper Facility Survey: www.casperareaparksplan.com From the city of Casper: Today I am making another plea for your participation. There is currently a public input survey available through March 19. This survey gives everyone in the master planning area a chance to provide input on our regional parks and recreation system. It is a critical part of developing the strategic direction for recreation in our area for the next two decades. Please take the survey. Tell your friends, families, and neighbors to take the survey. Encourage the young people in your lives to take the survey. Make sure the activities and facilities you enjoy are represented and give us the feedback that we need to know how to best allocate current and future resources. The survey is available on the project website at www.casperareaparksplan.com. Scroll to the bottom of the web page to view the boards from the open house, view a slide deck of the City Council presentation, and take the survey.

I’d like to encourage all of our stakeholders to complete the survey, especially if you have any feedback on how to improve accessibility in Casper. I completed the survey with Special Olympics team demographic info etc. The more voices advocating for accessibility the better!

Thank you if you’ve made it to the bottom of this email! :-) 😅
I’m looking forward to a flurry of replies from folks who would like to join the Casper management team. 🙏

Please get in touch with any questions, feedback etc.

Thank you all so much for everything you do to make Casper Special Olympics great!!

All the best,

Cathy
307-215-4054