US food chains help the handicapped

United States food chains Papa John's Pizza and Dairy Queen plan to sponsor the Special Olympics East Asia with about 5 million yuan ($793,651) over the next five years to help the mentally handicapped in China to join in society.

Under the guidance of Unified Sports, people with disabilities will take part alongside the able-bodied.

The two food companies and the nonprofit organization began a two-day sports meeting for Unified Basketball and Unified Bocce Ball in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on March 16. One hundred and four Special Olympics athletes and nearly 100 volunteers, 50 of whom were members of the staff of Papa John's and Dairy Queen, participated in the fun and inspiring games.

Papa John's and Dairy Queen signed an agreement with Special Olympics East Asia in November to join sponsors including Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd, Bank of Switzerland and The Boeing Company to promote the Special Olympics in China over the next five years. The Guangzhou event was the beginning of the 2012 plan to introduce Unified Sports to six cities in China. The other five are Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, Qingdao and Xi'an.

Special Olympics East Asia will also use the sponsorship to build a family support network for Special Olympics athletes in China and offer them free physical checkups over the coming five years.

"The mentally handicapped are often ignored and isolated. Restricted and confined, they will easily suffer a decline in physical function. Sports can strengthen their physical health," said Gu Shuhang, president of the Special Olympics East Asia.

"Moreover, the mentally handicapped are able to enhance their communicative skills by playing together with those without intellectual disabilities. This is the foundation for their ability to live fuller lives."

Deng Yingjie, 18, was a student from Guangzhou Qizhi School, a school offering education to 287 mentally handicapped kids. He was the host for the opening ceremony of the Unified Sports meeting held in his school on March 16. His confidence while introducing guests won applause and he betrayed none of the emotional disorders from which he suffers.

Deng's teacher said the young man couldn't control his temper and banged his head against the wall quite often. But his condition improved after Deng took up sports.

He started playing badminton and has now developed a wide range of interests such as roller skating, cycling, basketball and Chinese kung fu.

"I feel much better after screaming and running," Deng said, explaining his love of sports.

"I can tie in a badminton match against my teacher at school," Deng said, grinning with the confidence playing sport has given him. Now he no longer locks himself in his home and will cycle to parks at weekends. He also won two gold medals for roller skating in the National Special Olympics Games.

More importantly, Special Olympics sports, especially Unified Sports, are able to bring understanding and respect from normal people for the mentally challenged.

"The public tends to underestimate the mentally handicapped. Actually, this underestimated group is able to shine once it is given a stage on which it can display its talents," said Chen Kaiming, principal of Guangzhou Qizhi School. "Through playing together with their mentally handicapped teammates in Unified Sports, normal people will be amazed by these special athletes' courage and persistence."

Gu Shuhang from Speical Olympics East Asia added that Unified Sports benefit both people with and without intellectual disabilities. "Normal people usually regard themselves as alms-givers when they help the mentally handicapped. But by participating in Unified Sports, normal people will discover that they are also learning from their brave and persistent teammates," said Gu.

"Normal people will also harvest the happiness and satisfaction from helping the mentally handicapped to blend into communities."

Special Olympics sports could cost organizers a lot, according to Zhang Min, vice-president of Guangdong Association of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and Their Relatives.

Some sports, bocce for example, are demanding in terms of venue and equipment. She estimated that the sports meeting held at Guangzhou Qizhi School cost about 100,000 yuan.

Zhang's association has been promoting Special Olympics to remote areas in Guangdong. Because of a shortage of funds, the association has only reached eight cities over the past 12 years.

Zhang is more worried that the public lacks knowledge about the benefits of the Special Olympics for the 1,040,000 registered Special Olympics athletes in China.

"We need a large number of volunteers to play as trainers and teammates. We hope that businesses can help in promoting the Special Olympics to the public besides offering money," said Zhang.

Liu Zhaotang, chief marketing officer of Shanghai Shida Catering Management Co, Dairy Queen's biggest franchised partner in China, assured people with similar concerns that Papa John's and Dairy Queen will make full use of their advantages in terms of popularizing the Special Olympics.

"We will print information about the Special Olympics on table mats and place leaflets introducing the Special Olympics in all Papa John's and Dairy Queen's restaurants in China," said Liu. "The number of the restaurants nationwide is more than 500 so millions of customers will get to know about the Special Olympics."

The two companies have also encouraged thousands of their employees to volunteer for Unified Sports in local communities.

"We take participation in promoting the Special Olympics as a chance to educate our employees and enhance their loyalty to the company," said Cho Swee Seng, general manager of Papa John's in China.

"In addition to paying wages, we are also offering our employees the sense of satisfaction from doing good deeds. I believe people will be motivated to work for a business with a strong sense of social responsibility."

More importantly, Papa John's has been offering job opportunities to the mentally handicapped. Papa John's has recruited about 80 mentally handicapped employees nationwide since 2007.

The pizza restaurant chain is regarded as a role model for enterprises that want to engage in charity work. "The mentally handicapped will be able to genuinely blend into society if companies can offer a place in each office for the mentally handicapped and send a team to take part in Unified Sports activities every year," said Gu Shuhang from Special Olympics East Asia.