Special family: Shepards earn state award from Special Olympics

One sings the national anthem before the games. One competes. One helps run souvenir stands, and another is diligently working with the state in recognizing Special Olympic athletes.

This group effort of volunteering an enormous amount of time to support disabled athletes was more than enough to earn the Shepard family of Cape Girardeau the 2005 Family of the Year distinction from Special Olympics Missouri.

Kathy Shepard has teamed with her mother, Doris Shepard, and her two children, Eric and Nicole Sanders, to help promote, organize and improve the SOMO organization for the past five years.

On Jan. 21, the family was rewarded.

The award was presented at the "Night of Inspirational Stars" awards banquet at the Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, Mo., where Special Olympics acknowledged its most significant contributors.

Kathy Shepard, 42, thought she was the lone member of her family attending the banquet, but when the award was announced, she was doubly surprised.

"I knew we had been nominated, but I did not know we had won," Shepard said. "This was not the first time we had been nominated, and I thought I'd just be nice to the people who won. Then the kids showed up when we won, and they had known that we won. I was stunned."

The family was certainly deserving. In the last five years, the foursome has been involved in nearly all of the area events for SOMO, an athletic training and competition program that serves more than 14,000 children and adults who are mentally disabled in Missouri. SOMO is a branch of the national Special Olympics organization.

Doris Shepard and Nicole Sanders help run the souvenir stands at area events, and Sanders, 17, occasionally performs the "Star Spangled Banner" before different competitions.

Kathy Shepard also helps out with the souvenir booths as well as organizes SOMO family picnics. She also coordinates athletes for fundraisers and to represent SOMO in local parades.

Kathy Shepard is currently spearheading a campaign that she began in 2002 to have the state produce license plates marked with the Special Olympics logo.

"In order to put the plates into production, we have to get 200 people to agree to pay for the plate," said Shepard, who is solely responsible for the movement. "Once we have 200, then [the Missouri Department of Revenue] will go ahead and make them. Right now, we're about 50 away."

Much of the credit for the award goes to 19-year-old Eric Sanders, who is the reason why the family initially became involved. Sanders, a senior at Central, was diagnosed at the age of 6 with autism, a lifelong brain disorder that generally meddles with a person's communication skills and ability to relate to others. The condition, however, can be treated using different comprehensive techniques.

"We needed something for him to do," Kathy Shepard said. "We'd always heard about Special Olympics but didn't know where to go or who to talk to until one day I was driving by Shawnee, and they were having a Special Olympics softball tournament."

Shepard contacted Southeast Area Special Olympics director Penny Williams and took an active role.

"He's come a long way with it," Shepard said of her only son, who she said is a higher-functioning autistic and hardly physically challenged. "I attribute that to the coaches and the people he's around."

Eric Sanders competes in basketball, track and field, softball, soccer and bowling year-round and makes several trips annually to state competitions. At those events, he and his Southeast Area teammates match up with the best teams from the other eight sections around the state.

"He participates in everything our area offers," Kathy Shepard said. "He gets along well."

Eric Sanders currently is on a basketball squad that is practicing twice a week in preparation for the state tournament in Blue Springs on March 17.

"I'm looking forward to it," Sanders said.

Sanders will start his track and field season when he returns from the basketball competition. The Southeast Area of SOMO, which extends from Farmington to Poplar Bluff, will host a track and field district meet at the Central Junior High track on April 8. The Southeast Area also coordinates basketball, soccer, softball and bowling tournaments in Cape throughout the year.

While Sanders said his main goal is someday to become a video game designer or programmer, in the near future he's looking to build strength to improve his athleticism.

"I'm one of those people that will [try to get] stronger," Sanders said, "because the stronger you are, the [better] you get. So I'm just trying to get stronger."

The family takes its honor in stride, choosing to put more emphasis on the opportunities for Eric and others.

"It means a lot to Eric," Kathy Shepard said. "In his opinion, it's not about whether you win or lose; it's about having fun."