Special Olympians Find Out Once Again That "Yamaha Cares"
BUENA PARK, CA (August 5, 2005) — When more than 1,500 athletes gathered at California State University Long Beach for the Special Olympics Southern California 2005 Summer Games in June, Yamaha employees volunteered for another enjoyable weekend of fun, sports and music.
Yamaha brought employees to the campus from June 10 through June 12 through its in-house charitable program, “Yamaha Cares.” Employees were there to help out with track and field events and to staff a special booth in the Expo Sports Park, where athletes in the games could try out a Clavinova digital piano, a Disklavier reproducing piano and a digital drum set that let them “wail away” through headphones. Yamaha also sponsored the “Honored Guest” tent, which coordinated the athletic awards presentations.
Many of the athletes used the Clavinova’s karaoke function to put on concerts of their own. The booth also featured a raffle wheel they could spin to receive prizes such as toys, megaphones, and stuffed animals.
One feature of the Yamaha booth was a 30 minute piano performance by eight year old Kodi Lee of Irvine, CA on Saturday, June 11. Kodi, the oldest of three siblings, suffers from both optic nerve hypoplasia – which has taken his eyesight – and autism, and has become a friend and inspiration to the Yamaha family through several musical visits together.
Yamaha Cares uses charitable donations, product donations and hands-on help to promote education, arts, health and human services and community development in the areas where Yamaha employees live and work, and to spread the gift of music to people throughout America.
Yamaha Corporation of America Vice President of Human Resources, Carol Baker, who oversees the Yamaha Cares program, said Yamaha’s ongoing involvement with Special Olympics Southern California has been especially rewarding.
“Our program is designed to bring the beauty of music into the community, and when you see the athletes’ faces as they play instruments in our booth, you know that a connection is being made in the most direct and emotional way possible,” Baker says. “It’s one of our favorite events every year.”
Special Olympics Southern California provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community. To learn more, visit www.sosc.org.
For more information on Yamaha Cares, write Yamaha Corporation of America, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622-6600; or telephone (714) 522-9011.
Yamaha's Carol Baker and a young Special Olympian enjoy a moment on the Clavinova during the 2005 Summer Games at Long Beach in June. |
Many of the athletes used the Clavinova’s karaoke function to put on concerts of their own. The booth also featured a raffle wheel they could spin to receive prizes such as toys, megaphones, and stuffed animals.
One feature of the Yamaha booth was a 30 minute piano performance by eight year old Kodi Lee of Irvine, CA on Saturday, June 11. Kodi, the oldest of three siblings, suffers from both optic nerve hypoplasia – which has taken his eyesight – and autism, and has become a friend and inspiration to the Yamaha family through several musical visits together.
Yamaha Cares uses charitable donations, product donations and hands-on help to promote education, arts, health and human services and community development in the areas where Yamaha employees live and work, and to spread the gift of music to people throughout America.
Yamaha Corporation of America Vice President of Human Resources, Carol Baker, who oversees the Yamaha Cares program, said Yamaha’s ongoing involvement with Special Olympics Southern California has been especially rewarding.
“Our program is designed to bring the beauty of music into the community, and when you see the athletes’ faces as they play instruments in our booth, you know that a connection is being made in the most direct and emotional way possible,” Baker says. “It’s one of our favorite events every year.”
Special Olympics Southern California provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community. To learn more, visit www.sosc.org.
For more information on Yamaha Cares, write Yamaha Corporation of America, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622-6600; or telephone (714) 522-9011.
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