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Kids & Family

Fund-raising 'Aquathon' Set For Sunday

Swimmers and volunteers will gather in Sunnyvale to raise funds for programs that benefit people with developmental and physical disabilities.

 

Hundreds of swimmers, including many from Mountain View, are expected to make a splash on Sunday at a fund-raising event to benefit Abilities United, a Palo Alto-based service that helps fund programs for people with developmental and physical disabilities.

The Abilities United Aquathon will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. at the California Sports Center Sunnyvale Swim Complex at Fremont High School, 283 Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road in Sunnyvale.

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This year marks the 34th edition the event, which is being managed by Jo Bailard, the agency’s Corporate and Foundation Giving Officer. The goal for this year’s event is $175,000. A progress bar on the Abilities United website shows that more than $84,000 has already been raised toward the goal.

Over the years, the swim event has raised more than $1 million. All of the funds raised go directly to help fund services and programs designed for people with developmental and physical disabilities. These people often need these services for their lifetimes.  

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This year's honorary swimmer is 21-year-old, Special Olympic Gold Medalist, Nina Moseman who started her swimming career at the age of six months in a parent-toddler class. For more than 12 years, Moseman has been swimming at Abilities United Betty Wright Swim Center in Palo Alto.

Swim teams, made up of 6 to 8 members, swim for 30-minutes to raise funds. Corporate matches are added to team totals. Among Mountain View organizations that are participating as donors, volunteers and swimmers are teams from Intuit, Milk Pail Market, and the Mountain View High School Athletes for Athletes group

Gold and Silver Sponsors of this year’s event include NVIDIA, Oracle, and Intuit which each have teams swimming in the Aquathon. Their financial sponsorship as follows:

Gold/$10,000
NVIDIA (8 years as sponsor, 11 years of team swimming)
Oracle  (7 years as sponsor, 16 years of team swimming)

SILVER/$5000
Intuit (7 years as sponsor; 22 years of team swimming) 

Lane Sponsors come in at $500 each. New this year is Café Zoe of Menlo Park. Returning sponsors are MarketRiders and Mulcahy Family Dentistry of Palo Alto, the Milk Pail Market of Mountain View, SRI International of Menlo Park, CFOs2GO of Walnut Creek and San Francisco Sailing.

Community members are welcome to watch the event and are encouraged to donate to the program. For details, call 650-618-3331.

Abilities United is a United Way Affiliated Agency and a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization for children and adults with developmental disabilities (mental retardation, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, autism, and other neuro-developmental conditions causing developmental delays) who live in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.  Each year more than 2,000 people and their families use its training, education and support services.

-- Patch Staff

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