Special Olympics athletes gather for virtual meal
Online cooking class connects Chicago-area participants, families
Around 5 p.m. on a recent Wednesday, Lisa Mulcrone assembles ingredients for dinner in the kitchen of her north Beverly home. Along with the cans of green chilies, enchilada sauce, green onions, cilantro, flour tortillas, packets of shredded cheese and canned chicken, a laptop sit near the stove.
Besides making dinner for her husband and son, Mulcrone, a special recreation coordinator for the ChicagoPark District’sMount Greenwood Park, is about to conduct a cooking class via Zoom for 12 Special Olympics Chicago athletes and their parent and caregivers.
Working from their separate kitchens, the entire group will be making chicken enchiladas.
To add to the spirit of cooperation, Mulcrone invited her sister, Sioban Clancy, a longtime Special Olympics athlete, to assist.
The class is one of several Special Olympics activities normally offered at Mount Greenwood Park, 3721W. 111th St., that have gone virtual.
Thanks to a donation of 25 laptops from Special Olympics Chicago/Special Children’s Charities to the Chicago Park District, it’s now easier to reach families through Zoom for such activities as chair yoga, music, arts, crafts, even power lifting using water bottles or soup cans.
“When everything shut down, we strongly felt we had to do
something so that our athletes would not feel isolated. We wanted to keep them engaged in programming and seeing their friends and coaches,” said Carolyn S. Daley, president of SOC/SCC’s board of directors. “Our staff and board felt we really needed to find a way to get our athletes together virtually through the pandemic.”
Themission ofSOC/SCC is to fund both Chicago Park District and Chicago Public School Special Olympics programs, which serve approximately 7,500 SOC athletes.
Under more normal circumstances, SOC/SCCsupports transportation to Special Olympics Chicago events as well as travel, meals and lodging for participation in Special Olympics Illinois, national and international competitions.
The partnership also supports Chicago Park District efforts to acquire venues, meals, equipment, entertainment, and athlete souvenirs for participation in events.
When 5:30 rolls around that Wednesday, the athletes and their parents are tuned into theZoomlink for Mulcrone’s cooking lesson.
Abiding by her own instructions to prevent hair from getting in food, Mulcrone has tied her hair back in a bandanna. Clancy wears a stylish leopard print headband. Mulcrone helps ready her sister for the lesson by tying on her Special Olympics Chicago apron.
The group follows Mulcrone’s instructions to preheat the ovenat 365 degrees and begin combining ingredients for the enchilada filling. Mulcrone’s laptop
emits a cacophony of spoons scraping cans, tapping on bowls and fragmented conversation. “How many degrees?” “No, that bowl.” “Not yet with the sauce?”
One parent jokes the ingredients smell so enticing, his son is licking the bowl. Mulcrone fires back, “See, that’s the advantage of doing this from home. You can do that at home!”
Clancy does most of the mixing while Mulcrone measures and pours ingredients. They begin working together stuffing the enchiladas and placing the edges face down in an open glass casserole dish, but soon Mulcrone turns the task over to Clancy.
Clancy, a 1995 graduate of Oak Lawn High School who works part time at Chili’s, is more than happy to take over. For her, and others in the group, the weekly activity offers the chance to hone life skills and share in an activity with some Special Olympics friends she’s known for decades.
Donna Mrotek, of Palos
Heights, made the meal with her daughter Karyn Mrotek, 42, a close friend of Clancy’s who has participated in Special Olympics activities at Mount Greenwood Park for the last 30 years.
Like the other participants, Karyn Mrotek participates in other activities at Mount Greenwood Park, including dance, music, bingo and social club.
The Chicago Park District andSOC/SCChosted a socially distanced summer bowling session. As Illinois entered phase four of reopening and some parks opened, other in-person SOC activities resumed with social distancing, including golf, miniature golf, archery, bowling, fishing and a fitness class.
Though theSOCathletes look forward to the other in-person and virtual activities, Donna Mrotek pointed out that the cooking class has played a special role during the pandemic. “It became a family thing,” she said, adding that cooking and trying the new recipes brought her and her
daughter closer together.
Kevin O’Loughlinhelped his sonMatt O’Loughlin, 19, make the enchiladas while Matt’s mother, Mary Kay O’Loughlin, stood by to assist.
“They (Special Olympics participants) still get to see each other for bowling, but the cooking activity also enables them to see and relate to each other in person,” said Mary Kay O’Loughlin, a special education teacher. “For the families, afterward, we all get to sit down to a nice meal together.”
SOC/SCC has a separate program that involves prepackaged meal kits for families, but the beauty of this particular cooking class, O’Loughlin and Mrotek said, is coming away with Mulcrone’s easy recipes for future meals.
After the cooking class, Kevin O’Loughlin said to his mother, “When are we going to get the ingredients for lasagna?”