Adaptive Recreation: US Olympic committee awards grant to Metro Parks Tacoma Paralympic club

Jun 30, 2009

Metro Parks Tacoma has been named a grant recipient of the 2009 Olympic Opportunity Fund. Awarded by the U.S. Olympic Committee, the Olympic Opportunity Grant Program was started in 2007 to provide financial assistance to sport organizations across the United States. This year, the program was open to Paralympic Sport Clubs, USOC Paralympic member organizations, as well as veteran and military organizations with primary focus of developing Paralympic programs that serve injured military personnel and veterans.  

Metro Parks Tacoma will use the USOC community military grant to help wounded warriors participate in a recreational rowing program, which includes sculling, and kayaking. The program is open to military and non-military participants with physical disabilities who are interested in learning introduction to rowing. We hope to spark a love of water, help build confidence in participants and for some, challenge them to pursue the sport up to the Paralympic level!

"We are proud to invest in the incredible work of Metro Parks Tacoma," said Charlie Huebner, Chief of Paralympics, USOC. "Together, we will have a tremendous impact on the availability of Paralympic sports programming and be able to provide more opportunities for persons with physical disabilities and injured service members to participate in Paralympic sport at the community level."

A total of 39 grants amounting to more than $500,000 were awarded to Paralympic community organizations across the country.