Get Involved
Special Olympics has a place for everyone: athletes, families, coaches, volunteers, and donors. If you want to join a movement that will change the way you look at the world, join this world of winners. Once you spend a day with the athletes of Special Olympics, you will come back time and again.

Over 40,000 volunteers provide the manpower necessary to conduct over 300 events statewide. Special Olympics is always looking for more volunteers to meet the ever-expanding and ever-changing needs of this movement. The opportunities to get involved include walk-on volunteers, officials, coaches, administrative help, games management committees, and in-kind donors. Special Olympics provides all the training you will need to fulfill any of these roles.

Contributions -- Special Olympics Pennsylvania (SOPA) offers all its training and competition opportunities free of charge to its athletes and families. To be able to do so, SOPA relies on the generosity of corporations, foundations, and individuals. Special Olympics is not funded by the U.S. government or by the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation.

Athletes -- In Pennsylvania, more than 25,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilites and closely related developmental disabilities participate in over 300 local, sectional, and state events. Athletes range in age from 8 to 80 and are of all ability levels.

Funding -- SOPA is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that raises the funds through the generosity of individuals, companies, and foundations.