This news item expired on Sunday, September 30, 2018 so the information below could be outdated or incorrect.
(Asheville, NC) Buncombe County Special Olympics is a volunteer-driven, donation-funded program designed to create sporting opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The program’s efforts focus on inclusionary programming that builds connections between Special Olympics athletes and the community at large.
Interested in Partnering with Buncombe County Special Olympics?
In an attempt to move away from labor intensive fundraising campaigns that often pull volunteers from other critical program needs such as coaching and transporting athletes, Buncombe County Special Olympics is launching our third annual “Coffee for Champions” program. The intent of the program is to partner with coffee shops, cafes, and restaurants throughout Asheville and Buncombe County to help communicate awareness of the program and to raise funds through a more crowd-sourced approach. Buncombe County Special Olympics has virtually no administrative cost burden, so money raised during this campaign will go directly to programming for athletes.
Buncombe County Special Olympics volunteers have started recruiting local shops to participate for the 2018 campaign. As of 8/15/2018, we have 7 coffee shops/restaurants committed to the campaign.
- Dynamite Roasting Co.
- Ivory Road Cafe and Kitchen
- Vortex Doughnuts
- Corner Kitchen
- Biltmore Coffee Roasters
- Trout Lily Market & Deli
- PennyCup Coffee Co.
Organizers are asking that each participating location donate a penny from each cup of coffee sold throughout the month of September to the program. Buncombe County Special Olympics Local Coordinator, Karla Furnari says of the effort, “It is important to our athletes to know they have a whole community behind them and as we saw with this campaign last year, there was not a location we couldn’t go where we didn't feel welcome. We look forward to engaging our athletes yet again with community members over the entire month of September and then over the years to come.”
Buncombe County Special Olympics is looking to recruit as many coffee shops and businesses that sell coffee as possible to participate in the month long campaign which will generate a new base of community support and highlight the power of small-scale collective support.
Participating business will be featured on the campaign's website coffeeforchampions.org along with a map that helps coffee connoisseurs locate those establishments. The program will also use its social media channels to help promote participating business throughout the month.
Sign-up Your Business
It is not too late to sign your business up to participate. Sign-ups are ongoing throughout the whole month of September. Contact us by emailing special.olympics@buncombecounty.org or going to our website and clicking the sign-up tab.
Buncombe County Special Olympics is a year round athletics program for individuals with intellectual disabilities. For more information on the Spring Games or for general information on the program visit buncombcountyspecialolympics.org, e-mail special.olympics@buncombecounty.org, call 828.250.4265, follow Buncombe County Special Olympics on Facebook.