Special Olympics Alberta has spotlighted two Cochranites for their dedication to the events and athletes.

Lynda Jesse, Community Coordinator and Volunteer for the Special Olympic Bow Valley team was named Fundraising Volunteer of the Year 2024.

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The team head coach for cross-country skiing, Shawn Jesse was crowned volunteer of the year and he says without volunteers, there would be no Special Olympics in the province.

“It is an organization where all the coaches and the frontline people are volunteers. So we're always looking for more, but it's great to be appreciated!”

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“The fundraising [award] is actually a new award this year and that has been a real struggle for Special Olympics since the pandemic. So I think they wanted to highlight that is an important piece of making it all happen.”

The husband and wife duo has played a major part in continuing the growth of programming in the Bow Valley area throughout the years and plans to continue to offer more sports for athletes in the area.

“A lot of our athletes, even the winter sports athletes, we train year-round. We're actually looking at getting into some of the summer events. We're hoping to start up track and field at some point, when things fall into place, based on coaching and that sort of thing, and then expand from there.”