This week, GoFundMe, in partnership with former and current Olympic athletes, launched nearly 500 campaigns to help get more than 2,700 Special Olympic athletes to the next winter games in Gratz, Austria March 14-25. And some high-profile action sports athletes are helping.
In a release, GoFundMe says it costs $2,500 per athlete to cover travel, training, coaches, accommodation and equipment. GoFundMe says 50 percent of the funds will go to local athletes while 25 percent will go to international hopefuls and the last quarter to help the games’ organizers.
Along with other athletes, GoFundMe is partnering with snowboarders Danny Davis, Hannah Teter and Jamie Anderson, who sponsor Special Olympiads and help promote the fundraising opportunity. Teter—the 2006 halfpipe Olympic champion—has partnered with Daina Shilts, who she met 4 years ago at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in South Korea (where she won gold) “We immediately became fast friends,” Teter says on the GoFundMe page. “She has overcome so many obstacles. Growing up, bullies made her feel her disability was way worse than it really was. She almost gave up, feeling that she shouldn’t even try because no one would ever accept her for her. Then she found a sense of freedom, an escape. She found snowboarding.”
