Special Olympics names new director

Robbie Bryan saw at an early age the difficulties a child with disabilities suffers. She always wanted to help.

It was that first-hand knowledge and compassion that helped earn her the title of Special Olympics Missouri, Southwest Area director, according to the nonprofit's President and Chief Exe-cutive Officer Mark Musso.

Bryan started April 8, replac-ing former director Susan Miles who was dismissed Feb. 13.

"It has been a part of our family since I was 6 years old," Bryan said. Bryan has a cousin who has multiple disabilities.

Bryan has worked with Special Olympics on and off for about 30 years. Three years were spent coaching, an invaluable tool according to the organization's leaders.

"We think that being a Special Olympics coach is one of the best backgrounds you could have," said Musso, Missouri president for 11 years. And having a family member with a developmental disability "provides a unique perspective that no one else can really understand."

Bryan takes over the 19-county area that involves 2,270 athletes and 2,625

volunteers. The 2002 operating budget is $234,665.

The southwest area raised $191,208 last year, $47,521 of which came from United Way.

"My plan is to get out into my whole area to get more athletes and coaches in-volved," Bryan said. "There are a lot of areas that have not been tapped into yet and aren't aware of what Special Olym-pics has to offer."

Bryan will begin by recruiting volunteers for the 2002 State Summer Games that have been rescheduled to May 30-June 1 and relocated to

the University of Missouri-Columbia. The event had been held at Fort Leonard Wood for the past 26 years, but moved this year due to five known cases of meningitis near the Army base.

To assist Bryan, a new position development coordinator was created. Valerie Gustin takes on that role and will search for grants and perform budget reviews.