At the Bucks County Track and Field Day, Melissa Woerner started her own “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign, asking athletes and volunteers to sign a banner and take the pledge.

Special Olympics athletes, families, volunteers, and supporters work throughout the year to promote the Spread the Word to End the Word Campaign and eliminate the use of the harmful words “retard” and “retarded.”

Last month, Special Olympics Bucks County athlete Melissa Woerner ran an R-word campaign of her own at the Bucks County Track and Field Day event at Council Rock North High School in Newtown, PA. Woerner, who recently became a Global Messenger, embraced her new role as an ambassador for Special Olympics as she delivered a speech to the crowd and facilitated the R-word project, which she suggested and developed herself.

Along with fellow athletes Stephanie Walther and Tom McNeill, Woerner set up a table at the Track and Field Day with a banner that athletes and volunteers could sign in a pledge to “end the word.” Volunteers who took the pledge represented sports teams from seven major school districts in Bucks County as well as local colleges. Members of the Delaware Valley College Field Hockey team, which formed a new partnership with the Special Olympics Bucks County track team, volunteered at the event and took the pledge.

As part of the R-word campaign, all 207 athletes, 450 volunteers and 45 Law Enforcement Torch Runners who participated in the Track and Field Day received t-shirts that read “Spread the Word to End the Word.” Additionally, a local sponsor donated bracelets which were distributed to each person who signed the banner and took the pledge.

Overall, Woerner’s efforts helped raised awareness for an important Special Olympics campaign and contributed significantly to the success of the Bucks County Track and Field Day.