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Andrew Ebert-Baum, 19, a Springfield Township High School student from Wyndmoor, has been playing golf, soccer, floor hockey and basketball for the Special Olympics for the last five or six years and has reaped the emotional and mental benefits.
When he was 4 months old, Andrew suffered brain damage that has limited him in the scope of higher-level thinking such as planning, organization and basically seeing the big picture of a situation, according to his mother, Martha Ebert-Baum.
Special Olympics gave him a place to belong and grow, Martha said, so when she realized the nonprofit organization needed help, it was full speed ahead for Andrew’s Game, a fundraiser that will take place April 12 from 6 to 9 p.m. at MaGerk’s Pub and Grill on Bethlehem Pike in Fort Washington. Tickets cost $30 for a night of hors d’oeuvres, drink specials, live music and a silent auction featuring memorabilia donated by Philadelphia sports teams
There will also be a raffle for an autographed Robin Roberts baseball.
Before joining the Special Olympics, Andrew, coming from a sports-oriented family, and with a mind quick to remember batting averages and trades, had always participated in neighborhood sports. But at one point it got more difficult for him to compete against the experience and skill level of the other children.
A friend told Martha about the Special Olympics, and the family headed to the soccer field at Montgomery County Community College to give it a try.
“When Andrew was done in a couple of hours he came over and said, ‘Hey, mom’ — I think he was 12 or 13 — ‘these kids are just like me,’” she said. “And I just wept.”
Since then, the family, which includes Andrew’s father and older sister, has been involved in any way possible. Andrew participates in sports all year, except for a seven-week-long break in the summer.
Martha realized the organization could use some help when two nights were cut from the annual sports event held for state champions at Penn State University. The athletes stay overnight in student housing and play a sport of their choosing. Andrew chooses basketball.
The Special Olympics already holds one annual fundraiser, and Martha decided to create one more. She hopes next year someone else will take on the challenge and the fundraiser will be named for another Special Olympian.
Athletes do not pay to participate in the Special Olympics, but it takes approximately $120 per year to sponsor one Olympian, she said.
She hopes Andrew’s Game will raise $10,000. Already, the family has collected $5,600 through donations, which they keep in an envelope that Andrew counts.
“Sometimes when you have special needs you get that you don’t belong. He really feels that he can challenge himself physically through sports and Special Olympics,” Martha said. “It allows him to interact with kids who have similar disabilities.”
At Andrew’s Game, Andrew will read a paper he wrote in class about what the Special Olympics has meant to him. He will discuss this feeling of belonging, and the social skills he has gained by playing on a team, following rules and learning responsibility, Martha said.
