Special Olympics Missouri welcomes community to campus for health fair

Special Olympics Missouri hosted its first ever health and fitness fair Saturday, April 30, 2022, at the Special Olympics facility in Jefferson City. The fair included a diverse set of booths and games for attendees to play.
Special Olympics Missouri hosted its first ever health and fitness fair Saturday, April 30, 2022, at the Special Olympics facility in Jefferson City. The fair included a diverse set of booths and games for attendees to play.


Community partners offering free health screenings and resources filled the Special Olympics Missouri Training for Life campus in Jefferson City Saturday.

Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO) hosted its first health and fitness fair Saturday at the Training for Life Campus, marking one of the first major community events at the new facility.

The organization was also offering free foot, back, dental, and hearing screenings to athletes and the community, and more than 30 community vendors were stationed at booths throughout the campus to offer resources and information to anyone who stopped by.

Special Olympics is about more than just sports, said Carol Griffin, health partnership manager at SOMO, the organization offers a variety of health screenings and resources and is also focused on education.

"We've wanted to do this for a long time," she said. "Since we already offer the health screenings, we thought how awesome it would be to offer, not only our athletes but the community, the opportunity to come to one place to learn about health. That's been one of our goals, especially since we opened the Training for Life campus."

Between the tornado that struck the building less than a year after its completion and the COVID-19 pandemic, Andrew Kauffman, a spokesman for SOMO, said there hasn't been much opportunity for community outreach.

"This is kind of like our, I feel like, our grand re-birth of the Training for Life campus," Kauffman said. "This is our first big event saying we're back in full swing and we want people to take advantage of this campus."

Kauffman said he was pleased with the different faces he saw throughout the day. Some were old and others were young, some were athletes and others he had never seen before.

An official number of participants wasn't available Saturday, but Kauffman estimated the figure to be upwards of 100 as people stopped by for the fair and concurrent volleyball game throughout the day.

Kyle Galbraith, a senior nutrition and wellness student at Lincoln University who interns with SOMO, helped organize the fair and said it was a great experience learning how to organize a large community event centered around health.

Some people haven't had health screenings recently because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Galbraith said, and some athletes don't have the ability to be seen by a doctor or are too scared to make a visit, so offering check-ups at the Training for Life campus became an option.

"I saw it as a big opportunity to help the community and to help everybody out by having that open," he said.

Kauffman said a lot of people think Special Olympics Missouri is just for athletes and their families, but the organization also tries to support the community.

"This is an example of us holding something for everyone," he said. "It doesn't matter who you are, you can come out here and you can get a free health screening so it's really important for people to take advantage of this."

Griffin said she was initially nervous about recruiting community vendors for Saturday's fair, but it all worked out.

Vendors came from state agencies, healthcare organizations, nutrition and fitness retailers, and more.

"They came out of the woodwork," Griffin said. "I mean, everybody is so interested and it's because they want to reach out to the community."

Ben Cook, a family practice doctor with Jefferson City Medical Group, said the health and fitness fair was a nice opportunity for SOMO to engage with the Jefferson City and invite people back to the campus.

"This is a good way for the community to be involved with these athletes' lives but also help them realize that they're part of the community here, so we love it," he said.

JCMG had booths with information related to healthy eating, hand washing and sun safety, among others. Doctors on hand were also offering free blood pressure checks and hearing checks.

Cook and JCMG often do health promotions at SOMO events, he explained, as well as sports physicals for athletes.

Bradley Sloan, a sports medicine doctor with JCMG, said it was fun to talk with athletes about what sports they play, how they stretch and what they like to eat, as well as field their questions.

"It's very rewarding to just be here and get to meet the athletes," he said. "It's just a special chance to be here and be with them. They've got good attitudes, always smiles, and it's just fun to be a part of."

Kauffman said Saturday's event could be the beginning of an annual fair sponsored by SOMO that he hopes to grow each year.