Some people volunteer for a season. Others build a movement.
Across Southern California, Special Olympics volunteers show up in countless ways on fields, in gyms, at competitions, and in quiet moments in between. They are parents, coaches, partners, and champions. And while their paths may begin differently, they often lead to the same place: a community where athletes are seen, supported, and celebrated exactly as they are.
This National Volunteer Week, we’re honoring four volunteers whose stories reflect the heart of Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) and the power of saying yes.
Coach Sammi: Inclusion as a Life’s Work
For Samantha Stewart, known to most simply as Coach Sammi, Special Olympics isn’t something she does. It’s part of who she is.
Her journey began at just nine years old in Tucson, Arizona, volunteering as a Girl Scout, inspired by her mother, a paraeducator. From the beginning, inclusion wasn’t an extra activity. It was a value she carried with her.
That value became deeply personal when Sammi became a teacher and a mom. She saw that not every student, especially students with disabilities, had access to sports. When her son Gavynn was eight and there weren’t teams available for him, she didn’t wait for one to appear. She created it.
Since 2010, Coach Sammi has volunteered with Special Olympics Southern California, coaching Unified floorball, bocce, bowling, and athletics, and even playing golf as a Unified partner alongside her son. She’s helped grow Unified Sports across the Conejo Valley Unified School District, supporting elementary programs and guiding all three high schools – Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks, and Westlake – to National Banner recognition as Unified Champion Schools.
Ask Coach Sammi what she’s most proud of, and she won’t point to medals or wins. She’ll talk about community. About watching teams become families. About moments, like the first Spring Season trip where athletes stayed in dorms for the first time, and the community showed up for one another without hesitation – when belonging wasn’t something talked about, but something lived.
For Coach Sammi, volunteering is family. Her oldest child is an athlete. Her husband and daughters are Unified partners. They practice together, compete together, and grow together. And through it all, she keeps coming back to a simple definition she lives by:
“Inclusion is the marriage of equality and equity. You need both.”
Erin Bell: One “Yes” That Changed Everything
Erin Bell didn’t come to Special Olympics looking to coach. She came as a mom.
In 2023, Erin’s twin daughters were introduced to Special Olympics through School Games at Newbury Park High School. What Erin noticed right away wasn’t just the sports – it was the joy, the positivity, and the genuine inclusion. This wasn’t a program where athletes were tolerated. They were welcomed. Valued. Celebrated.
When her daughters’ PE teacher, Sammi Stewart, asked if she would help start a floorball team as an assistant coach, Erin said yes without realizing how much that one word would change her life.
Her first training trip sealed it. Surrounded by athletes, coaches, and volunteers learning and playing together, she felt the heart of Special Olympics in action. From there, Erin kept showing up: coaching bocce, advancing to Summer Games, and eventually stepping into a co–head coach role alongside Coach Sammi.
Today, Erin serves as co–head coach for Unified Bowling, Bocce, and Floorball, supports Unified Champion Schools, and serves on the SOSC Coaches Council. She continues volunteering at Newbury Park High School and Conejo Oaks Academy where her daughters continue to shine.
Some moments stay with her forever: walking into Opening Ceremonies at Summer Games, watching the floorball program grow to include Skills, Traditional, and Unified teams, and seeing her daughter Vivienne earn the very first Skills Floorball gold medal in Region 1. That medal meant more than a win, it symbolized opportunity, growth, and belonging.
“Our teams aren’t just teams,” Erin says. “They’re family. We celebrate together, support each other, and show up on and off the field.”
Michael Reagan: Decades of Belief in the Brave Attempt
Michael Reagan’s connection to Special Olympics Southern California spans decades and it started, like many stories do, with sports.
As a parent, Michael coached his daughter through high school and saw firsthand what sports make possible: resilience, teamwork, confidence, and the courage to adapt when things get hard. Those lessons carried far beyond the field.
More than 20 years ago, Michael attended the SOSC Summer Games in Long Beach. Watching athletes compete with determination and heart left a lasting impression and sparked a lifelong commitment.
Over the years, Michael coached track, soccer, and volleyball, served on the PR & Marketing Committee, and became deeply involved in Tip-A-Cops, a program that brings law enforcement, athletes, and communities together in powerful ways. Through these events, real relationships form connections that continue long after the day ends.
Volunteering has also deepened Michael’s empathy for families. Parents have shared their children’s stories with him, and Michael has embraced the role of “Champion”, someone who believes in growth, effort, and potential, no matter the outcome.
He lives by the words of the Special Olympics Athlete Oath:
“Let me win. But if I can’t win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
Manny Silva: Fifteen Years, One Purpose
For Manny Silva, volunteering with Special Olympics is simple: it’s all about the athletes.
Manny began volunteering with Special Olympics Southern California in 2023, but his journey started long before that. For more than 15 years, he served as a coach, Unified partner, and volunteer with Special Olympics in Connecticut. When he moved to California, continuing to volunteer was never a question, only where he could jump back in.
Now an Athletics coach in San Diego County, Manny brings positivity, purpose, and heart to every practice. When asked about meaningful moments, he doesn’t talk about medals. He talks about opportunity, giving athletes the chance to compete, to be seen as individuals, and to participate in whatever way feels right for them.
What keeps him coming back is the athletes. Their determination, joy, and resilience re‑energize him every time he steps onto the track.
“Inclusion means being involved, no matter who you are,” Manny says.
His advice to anyone unsure about volunteering is simple: get involved and educate yourself.
The Ripple Effect of Showing Up
Sammi. Erin. Michael. Manny.
Their stories are different, but they share something powerful in common. They said yes. They showed up.
In doing so, they helped create spaces where athletes and families find confidence, connection, leadership, and belonging.
This National Volunteer Week, we celebrate them and the thousands of volunteers like them who remind us that Special Olympics is more than sports.
It’s community. It’s family. It’s a life changed by one brave attempt and one person willing to stand beside it.
Thank you, volunteers. Because of you, inclusion isn’t just a goal. It’s a way of life.