AHS students carry water for Olympians

Photo courtesy of Larry Stewart

Arcadia High School football players got in a little extra weight training recently, unloading about 75 cases of water bottles for Special Olympics athletes and coaches who will be staying in the city prior to this summer’s World Games. Sowing Seeds for Life, a La Verne-based food bank that serves the needy in the East San Gabriel Valley, donated a pallet of its surplus water, which, because of storage space, was only available at this time. AHS Athletic Director Ryan Press made arrangements to store the water at the school, and football Coach Andrew Policky arranged for the players to unload it. Arcadia resident Larry Stewart, who is affiliated with Sowing Seeds for Life, was responsible for the donation.

Lr: AHS coach Andrew Policky, quarterback Nico Hillier, Athletic Director Ryan Press; Photo courtesy of Larry Stewart

It’s just another example of how the community is coming together to support the Host Town Arcadia program — housing, feeding, and entertaining 100 athletes and coaches from the island countries of Trinidad-Tobago and the eastern Europe country of Kyrgyzstan July 21-24 prior to the World Games Opening Ceremony on July 25 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The athletes will train at the high school while in Arcadia, which is one of nearly 100 communities in the southern half of California that will be hosting about 10,000 athletes and coaches from 170 countries involved with the World Games.

Earlier this month The Derby donated proceeds from all meals at lunch and dinner on a Monday to the effort being coordinated by a committee of about 20 volunteers from the City of Arcadia, the Arcadia School District, the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, and many other groups. Earlier, a similar fundraiser was held at BJ’s Restaurant, which yielded $750. The Arcadia Rotary Club Foundation donated $10,000 and Methodist Hospital contributed $5,000 in cash, and three area hotels — Embassy Suites Arcadia, Hilton Garden Inn, and Santa Anita Inn are saving the committee more than $13,000 in discounted rooms and free breakfast for the athletes and mentors. Foothill Credit Union has donated $1,500 to the cause, while Janet and Dick Van Kirk contributed $1,000.