By Jennifer Kohlhepp, Managing Editor
Back in January the Hyatt Regency Princeton started a mission to give back to the community and the hotel’s general manager, Jonathan K. Shisler, had the good fortune of meeting Peter Bell.
Mr. Bell is not just the father of a young adult with autism. He is the CEO of Eden Autism Services in Princeton and he asked Mr. Shisler if he would employ six of his clients.
”One of those clients turned out to be Michael Schwallie, an impressive employee and a Special Olympian who won two medals in the Olympics,” Mr. Shisler said.
Mr. Shisler presented Mr. Schwallie, 52, of Robbinsville, with a special certificate of appreciation during a 2014 Special Olympics recognition event held at the Hyatt Regency the evening of July 10. The Hyatt partnered with the MidJersey Chamber of Commerce to host the event. The Hyatt donated both the use of its facility and catering for the event.
Mr. Schwallie, who won two bronze medals in cycling during the Special Olympics, was one of many Olympians from Central Jersey recognized during the event.
The Mercer County region hosted several competitions as part of the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games from June 14 through June 21. Overall, the games were estimated to host 3,500 athletes from around the country who competed in 16 sports before tens of thousands of fans and volunteers.
There was no cost for the athletes to participate in the Olympics, as the Special Olympics was funded through donations and sponsorships.
”What Bob Prunetti did with the chamber was not just heighten awareness but help solicit funds because the games had to be free,” Mr. Bell said.
Mr. Prunetti is the president of the MidJersey Chamber of Commerce, which helped band area businesses together to sponsor different aspects of the Special Olympics so that they would be completely free for participants. In return for sponsorships and donations, businesses were provided with advertising.
MidJersey Chamber of Commerce member Daniel Keelan, of Hamilton, who helped organize the special recognition event, said. “The 2014 US Special Olympics has provided the tangible benefits of exposure and an economic ‘shot in the arm’ for our region, which are valuable, but inevitably will fade as we and time move farther from those events.”
What he thinks will prove to be invaluable is what will not fade.
”The persistent sense of community, charity and ‘together, we can do this attitude’ that the MidJersey Chamber of Commerce, the Special Olympic champions and their families and all of the volunteers brought to the residents and businesses of the region,” Mr. Keelan said. “These are what will fuel our drive to be bold and with a sense of charity to set audacious goals for growing our economy and for growing ourselves. The presence of the 2014 US Special Olympics is an amazing gift to all of us and it deserves to be recognized with the type of recognition that we held tonight.”
