Judy Macho accepts the Unsung Hero Award from PJ

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Our athletes beat the heat at Summer Games!

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Summer Games Pride in Performance Athlete Barry Moffett, with Brian Capp of Les Schwab Tire Centers and Special Olympics Oregon CEO Margie Hunt

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Dave Erickson: Pride In Performance Volunteer Winner

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Forget surfing this weekend--Come to Summer Games!

Get your Independence Day celebration off to an early, fun and inspirational start! Please join the athletes, coaches and volunteers of Special Olympics Oregon for an evening of music, celebration and pageantry at the Opening Ceremonies of the State Summer Games in Hillsboro on Friday, June 27th! The Opening Ceremonies festivities are free and open to the public. The excitement begins at 7:30 p.m. with the traditional Parade of Athletes, followed by the lighting of the Olympics Games Flame of Hope by Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) officers. Once the torch is lit, the music will crank up.
Saturday, the State Summer Games will be underway by 9 a.m. These games represent the culmination of weeks of training by Special Olympics Oregon athletes from all parts of the state. Competition in a variety of Olympic-style sports—softball, golf, bocce, gymnastics and athletics—will take place on Saturday and Sunday at the Stadium. I hope to see you in Hillsboro for a fabulous weekend of family-style fun!
Visit www.soor.org for details!

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Summer Games are just days away!

We are expecting a record turnout this weekend for our State Summer Games presented by Les Schwab Tire Centers. Whether you are an athlete, coach, volunteer, family member, friend or fan, you are in for an exciting and competitive weekend!

We’d like to call one very special event to your attention: The Pentathlon. We have three athletes competing in this five-event spectacle: Christopher Steen and Aaron Aerseth of Jackson County, and Will Durfee of Milton Freewater. The five events comprising the pentathlon are the 100 meter run, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 meter run. This weekend, our athletes will compete over a two-day period (Saturday and Sunday).


For Christopher Steen, the battle for Pentathlon supremacy will be just part of a very big couple of weeks. Next weekend, he will have the opportunity, along with 15 other Special Olympics Oregon athletes, to compete in a 100-meter-dash exhibition race at the U.S. Olympic Trials at historic Hayward Field on the campus of University of Oregon. The race takes place on Saturday, July 5. Good luck to our Olympic Trials contingent!

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Our athletes are getting ready for Hillsboro!

Check out this link for some terrific family photos from a recent Regionals meet.

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Judy Macho named winner of Unsung Hero Award

Judy Macho, a Reedsport police officer, has been selected to receive the Ken Davis Unsung Hero Award at Special Olympics Oregon State Summer Games. The award is given annually to a member of the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) who exemplifies the standard set by the late Ken Davis for community service and dedication to the mission of Special Olympics. LETR is a program of Special Olympics run by volunteers who are members of law enforcement agencies.
Macho has been immersed in Special Olympics activities for more than two decades. She was recruited to participate in LETR by former Reedsport Police Chief John Smart (now retired) and has increased her LETR involvement ever since.
“Chief Smart decided the department should take an active role in the Torch Run, and he convinced me to join him. I just kept being involved over the years, and my responsibilities grew,” Macho says.
Macho took her dedication to LETR and Special Olympics to a new level last year when she agreed to serve as the Local Program Coordinator (LPC) of the then-struggling South Coast Special Olympics program. Working closely with Janet Capetty, senior vice president, field services, Macho put together a local program team that revived the South Coast program’s activities. Under her management, the program has held several fundraisers while attracting more athletes and volunteers. Capetty has hailed the revival of the South Coast local program as one of the great success stories of the past year for Special Olympics Oregon.
Macho is the communications records supervisor for the Reedsport Police Department and serves as administrative assistant to current Police Chief Shawn Essex. She will receive the Unsung Hero award at Opening Ceremonies for State Summer Games on June 27.
“Judy’s dedication to the mission of Special Olympics goes way over and above what you would expect from any volunteer, especially when you consider that she has also taken on the local program coordinator’s position,” said Allison Ellermeier, LETR director. “She represents the very best in LETR.”
LETR represents a long-standing tradition within the Special Olympics family. The group’s most visible event is the week-long Flame of Hope relay. During the last week of June, hundreds of officers from across Oregon participate in a relay that brings the Special Olympics Flame of Hope to Hillsboro Stadium. There, the Torch ignites the Special Olympics Oregon Cauldron that signifies the official beginning of Summer State Games. This year, State Summer Games begin with Opening Ceremonies on June 27; the competitions themselves take place on June 28 and June 29 in and around Hillsboro.

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Our pitch for Summer Games

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State Summer Games are just around the corner!

No celebration of summer would be complete without Special Olympics Oregon's State Summer Games. The city of Hillsboro in the west suburbs of Portland again plays host to three days of ceremonies, athletic competition, music, dancing, dining and fellowship. The fun begins with Opening Ceremonies on Friday, June 27, and continues on through Sunday afternoon, June 29. Details are available on this website.

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