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Lucy Meyer has defied expectations since birth, when she was deprived of oxygen for five seconds and doctors predicted that she would, as a result, never spit or swallow.
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July 24, 2015

Lucy Meyer has defied expectations since birth, when she was deprived of oxygen for five seconds and doctors predicted that she would, as a result, never spit or swallow. Now 16, she goes surfing and boogie boarding — despite having cerebral palsy.

With the Special Olympics World Summer Games coming to Los Angeles beginning this weekend, her story will be front-and-center, even though she’s not competing. That’s because Lucy is serving as a Global Messenger for the event.

“I’m really excited,” said Lucy, who has dark-blond hair and blue-green eyes. “We’ve been looking forward to it for a long time, and it’s finally here.”

[MORE: Getting into the spirit of the Games]

Her duties include speaking about the games at events and schools across Los Angeles. Her family’s involvement led to her synagogue, Leo Baeck Temple, coordinating the stay for the Israeli team.

Wearing a wet-suit top, Lucy fidgeted with her necklace as she told her story, having just concluded a swim-aerobics lesson with her instructor and companion, Kiyo Kimotto, with whom she goes surfing and more. She loves the water and swims every day — her specialties are breaststroke and freestyle — and she represented Southern California in the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games in Princeton, N.J.

She also tries to have a normal life despite her disability: She just graduated from Daniel Webster Middle School, where she served as student council vice president, and is entering Hamilton High School in the fall. Lucy said the key to her success is to not think of herself as somebody who has a disability.

“I don’t really think about myself having it at all,” she said. “I try to forget about it as much as I possibly can.” 

Lucy told the Journal she has been enjoying the experience of serving as Global Messenger. With the help of her mother, Jamie Meyer, she has been tweeting about the games and having back-and-forth exchanges on Twitter with the likes of pop star Avril Lavigne, who is performing at the opening ceremonies July 25. That’s when the city is expected to welcome 177 countries — including Israel — and some 7,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities. 

“It’s really important to us that people all over the world accept and include people living with disabilities,” Jamie Meyer said.

Lucy said she is also particularly excited about the chance to interact with members of the Special Olympics World Summer Games Israeli team. During a recent trip to the Holy Land with Leo Baeck Temple, Lucy met and became close to members of the squad. Upon returning to L.A., the Meyers urged their synagogue to become more involved in special needs. 

The synagogue embraced the opportunity to arrange accommodations nearby. (The precise location is not being made public for security purposes.)

“Leo Baeck is very passionate about Israel, very passionate about inclusion, and we saw this as a great way to merge those objectives,” temple president Randi Levine said in an interview at the Meyers’ Bel Air home, which was scheduled to host the Israeli team during a July 22 event for approximately 250 people. The guest list included Bobby Shriver, whose mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, created the Special Olympics in 1968; Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles David Siegel; Israeli-American basketball player David Blu; swimmer Lenny Krayzelburg; and former NBA player and UCLA star Baron Davis. 

Accommodating the Israeli team during several days of pregame activities required the efforts of many. The co-chairs of the effort are Jamie Meyer and fellow Leo Baeck members Vida Brucker and Wendy Glickman. The three, along with their husbands (Chuck Meyer, Alex Brucker and Roger Glickman) are among the donors to the pregame programming, which required a fundraising effort of approximately $40,000, according to Levine. Many synagogues and corporations also contributed. 

Kiyo Kimotto, a swimming and surfing instructor, and Lucy Meyer, who has cerebral palsy. Photo courtesy of  Kiyo Kimotto

Sheri Neuberg, Erv Biender and Elke Coblens-Aftergut — three self-described “delegation liaisons” — will join the Israeli team throughout its stay here. Their duties involve interpreting for the athletes and making sure they follow their schedules. Each has their reasons for volunteering — but none of them involves a past relationship with people who have special needs. 

“I’m just a Jew who volunteers, lived in Israel and speaks Hebrew,” Neuberg said. 

Meanwhile, Biender, 64, an Israeli-Romanian who immigrated to the United States from Israel after fighting in the Yom Kippur War, said he was recently laid off from his job of 30 years and he was looking for something to fill the time. He found out that the Special Olympics World Summer Games were happening through a speech delivered by one of the clergy at Adat Ari El in Valley Village and decided to become involved.

He, like the Meyers, can’t wait for the games to begin.

“It’s in my DNA to help people,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to the experience.” 

Others throughout the local Jewish community are pitching in, too. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has an effort called “Fans in the Stands,” in which it’s encouraging community members to attend a July 30 tennis match at the UCLA Los Angeles Tennis Center, scheduled from 4 to 7:30 p.m., said Lori Klein, Federation’s senior vice president of Caring for Jews in Need. The event will include two members of the Israeli delegation — Ofir Avishay and Nadav Sarfati.

Those interested in learning about Israeli athletes may visit Federation’s website (jewishla.org), which features autobiographical blog posts by various members of the Israeli team.

The local chapter of the Israeli-American Council (IAC), an umbrella organization for Israeli-Americans, asked the young professionals in its IAC BINA group and the tikkun olam-oriented IAC Care constituency to volunteer at the games in a gesture of support for athletes with special needs.

Ori Pikoos, community events manager at the IAC, expressed enthusiasm that the group IAC has become involved with the games’ Israeli delegation.

“I’m excited we get to work with the Special Olympics and show them how happy we are that they are here and that we can support them and that Israelis in L.A. are behind them,” she said in a phone interview.

At the Jewish National Fund: Greater Los Angeles and the Valley (JNF), members provided monetary sponsorship of a July 22 dinner at American Jewish University for the Israeli team. The event was intended to enable attendees, mostly donors, to learn more about JNF work in Israel promoting inclusion efforts in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), where young adults with autism can pack supplies and work in the kitchen. Also set was a meet-and-greet between the Israeli athletes and attendees of the dinner. 

“We just thought it was a great opportunity for us to promote our therapeutic services and what we do in Israel,” Lou Rosenberg, interim executive director of the local chapter of JNF, said in a phone interview. “I don’t think a lot of people are aware this is a major area of emphasis of JNF. A lot of people, when they think of JNF, they think, ‘Plant a tree.’ ”

“I just want to make sure that they enjoy every moment while they are in Santa Clarita and L.A. It’s a labor of love, and I couldn’t be prouder.” — Jackie Hartmann

Various synagogues, corporations and individual donors are among those who contributed to the fundraising campaign for the host-city effort, including entertainment icon Barbra Streisand, who provided an undisclosed amount of money to sponsor a July 21 dinner for the Israeli athletes, according to Jamie Meyer.

And then there are people such as Jackie and Tom Hartmann, longtime Special Olympics volunteers who will continue their work through the World Games. The couple started volunteering for Special Olympics when their daughter, Kerith, was 8. Born with an intellectual disability, Kerith joined the local track and field team and her parents soon started to help with coaching duties, which have expanded to other sports over time.

For the past 19 years, the Hartmann family has made Special Olympics a full part of their lives, and Tom is coordinating activity throughout the games at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at the UCLA campus while Jackie is the chair of the host town committee for Santa Clarita, where the Hartmann family resides. 

Host towns are a group of volunteers who agree to take in a delegation and raise money to organize housing, meals, workout facilities, transportation and entertainment for them. There are nearly 100 host towns across Southern California, from Bakersfield to San Diego, and each is required to raise at least $40,000 to support a delegation. Jackie Hartmann is in charge of placating the needs of 138 athletes, coaches and staff from the delegations of El Salvador, Malawi, Faroe Islands and the Philippines.

“I just want to make sure that they enjoy every moment while they are in Santa Clarita and L.A.,” she said. “It’s a labor of love, and I couldn’t be prouder.”

Jackie said she is thrilled to attend the World Games with her daughter. During the 1984 Summer Olympics, Jackie and her mother attended several events.

“My mom and I went to the opening and closing ceremonies, and 10 venues in ’84, and that was an amazing experience,” Jackie said. “When you have a child with an intellectual disability, you don’t think you are going to experience those things with them. We’re thrilled that it’s going to be in L.A. It’s beyond exciting.”

Jewish Journal contributing writer Aaron Pellish provided material for this report.

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