For local Special Olympics athlete Marinka VanHage, it’s all about sports all week long.
It goes like this: Monday is swimming, Tuesday is rhythmic gymnastics, Wednesday is floor hockey and powerlifting, Thursday is curling and a fitness class - just because, Friday is basketball and Saturday is snowshoeing and 10-pin bowling and in the summer it’s golf, track & field where Marinka focuses on sprinting, standing long jump and throwing javelin and shot put.
She plays soccer, too.
Marinka’s been competing for more than 20 years and looks forward to this year's competitions as things start to open up for athletes after pandemic restrictions and safety protocols have limited participation during the last couple of years.
Tim Hortons has announced a fundraiser where 100 per cent of the proceeds of the #ChooseToInclude donut that is on sale from Jan. 28 to 30 will go to Special Olympics Canada and Marinka and mom slash coach Wilma are very grateful, they said.
“It’s so good,” Marinka said about the support local athletes will receive from the fundraiser that’s all about inclusion. “It’s so great because we get to meet lots of new friends and we travel to the events.”
The fundraising also goes to uniforms, added Wilma.
“Come out and support - it’s such a worthy cause,” Wilma said to the Prince George community.
“This is a really great initiative and we’re behind it 100 per cent,” Wende Bracklow, franchisee in Prince George, said.
One hundred per cent of the proceeds from sales of the donut will go directly to local Special Olympics community programs, supporting more than 41,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities across Canada.
