The Special Olympics World Winter Games happens once every four years in a different location around the globe. This year, it took 
place in Graz, Schladming, and Ramsau, Austria. As a big supporter of the Special Olympics, Lions were present!
March 14-25, 2017, athletes from across the world participated in the Special Olympics World Winter Games. Athletes competed in
sports such as skiing, figure skating, snowshoeing, and floor hockey.
In addition to attending the games, on March 17, Special Olympics hosted a 100 Years of Global Service celebration for Lions Clubs International (LCI). During this celebration, Past International President Wing-Kun Tam was announced as the newest member of the 
Special Olympics Board of Directors. Adding to the reasons to celebrate, Mrs. Aruna Oswal, one of our humanitarian partners,
announced her US$1 million donation to Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) to sponsor LCI/Special Olympics’ Mission: Inclusion. The donation from the Aruna & Abhey Oswal Trust will go to fund the Mission: Inclusion expansion initiative in India. Making history, Lion Kester Edwards, a Special Olympics athlete and team member at Special Olympics International, became the first Special Olympics Athlete to receive a Melvin Jones Fellowship Award. In addition to the powerful speeches, including one from Tim Shriver, Chairperson of Special Olympics, Grammy Award winner, Jason Mraz and America’s Got Talent winner, Grace VanderWaal delighted attendees with performances.
LCIF’s Opening Eyes program also made an appearance in Graz to provide eye screenings to Special Olympics Athletes. Through this program, more than 161,000 Special Olympics athletes have received prescription eyewear since 2001.
