Students Give Back to Special Olympics
Two Vidalia High School students will give back to the community this Christmas season, as they use a showing of “The Grinch” at 6 p.m. at the Pal Theatre on Monday, December 18, to raise money for the Toombs County Special Olympics.
Juniors Braylie Davis and Noah Varn are both members of the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) Club at their school, and both participate in the Club’s continued from page
competition regarding events. “What we do is have an event under certain guidelines, then we’ll talk about it — talking about the results and what could have gone better and what went great. We’ll compete that, and if it does well, then we will go to state and then possibly nationals,” Davis explained.
Last year, Davis competed with her event “Mural Outside the Lines,” in which she hosted individuals with special needs to help to craft a large murallike drawing. “I did this last year with a different friend – her name is Rebekah Bell – we did the “Mural Outside the Lines” and it went great. I knew that [this year,] I wanted to do something with special needs, but Rebekah wasn’t as interested in doing a project anymore because we are busy with sports and other things. Therefore, I knew Noah was in the club and didn’t really have a group, even though he really wanted to do an event,” Davis remarked.
Therefore, the collaboration between Davis and Varn was born, and the pair brainstormed on how to host the best possible event. “I went to him and told him I had a few ideas with special needs, so we went through the options and decided to do something near Christmas; we knew we wanted to do something different than others had done. We knew The Pal or STC (Southeastern Technical College) could be a great venues to hold our event, but we ended up going with The Pal because it is smaller and more confined — there’s less places for kids to wander. Plus, we had an event there in the past and knew how to go about it,” Davis shared.
She added, “We also knew we wanted somewhere for the money to go, so I began thinking about some good organizations around our community. I thought, ‘Why not the Special Olympics?’ I know that they are trying to start up a cheer team this year, and it is something that will benefit all of the kids from the surrounding counties because a lot of them go to the Toombs County Special Olympics. So, we got that in place.”
When asked why she was so passionate about having the event to benefit special needs, Davis spoke of her personal connection with the cause. “My brother is severely profound with special needs. He has a rare disease called tuberous sclerosis, so he is about to be 12 years old, but functions on a 2-year-old level. So, it’s just really cool to meet and interact with kids like my brother, or worse off or better off than him,” she emphasized. “It’s really cool to see how diverse kids can be, and it’s also something I’m very passionate about. In the future, I definitely want to pursue a career around that.”
The duo has gained support for the event through local sponsorships and has raised almost $700 so far to donate to the Toombs County Special Olympics. “We’re so excited for this event and are hoping to raise a lot of money for the Special Olympics,” Varn remarked. “It’s going to be great.”
All members of the public are welcomed to the event, which will be held on Monday, December 18, and will feature games at 5:30 p.m. before the showing of the film at 6 p.m. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door.
INSPIRED BY HER BROTHER – Braylie Davis (left) said that she was inspired by her brother Kash Waller (right) to use an event to raise money for those with Special Needs.
