Minnesota Wheelchair

Athletic Association

“One third of the U.S. population has a disability, has a family member with a

disability, or works closely with a person with a disability and consider

disability issues to be a matter of high importance.”

Marketing to Americans with Disabilities

Dear FriendsNon-profi t organizations should allow the people they serve to grow and experience new events that the typical person can experience on their own. The Minnesota Wheelchair Athletic Association is one such organization.

Our mission is to provide adapted sports and recreational opportunities to children and adults living in Minnesota. Through this mission, the MWAA provides neccessary experiences and opportunities that allow the people the MWAA serves to grow in physically satisifying areas they otherwise may not have the opportunity to do so.

Although many strides have been made that help disabled Americans live more free and independant lives, many continue to face new and unique challenges. Amongst these challenges include the ability to partake in recreational and sporting activities that are readily available for most of Minnesota’s public through vast amounts of public and private resources. Disabled Minnesotans lack alternative programming that meets their unique needs that current public and private programming cannot, and does not, meet.

Since 1994, the MWAA has provided a number of disabled sporting activities including Wheelchair Softball, Sled Hockey, and Wheelchair Basketball. Our efforts have culminated in winning two National Wheelchair Softball Championships in 2000 and 2006. As we look forward, the MWAA looks to expand and improve the current program offerings to Minnesota’s disabled. We are also adding educational and diversity awareness opportunities that will promote and highlight disabled Minnesotans to the general public.

Of course, we could not offer these exciting programs without the generous support of Minnesota’s public. The MWAA has had a long standing relationship with the St. Paul Saints in helping start the wheelchair softball program in 1994 and recently has partnered with the Minnesota Wild for the sled programming. As we look forward, we continue to need additional funding as we aggressively grow our program offerings and offer more disabled Minnesotans the physically challenging opportunitites they cannot fi nd in other venues.

Thank you for your support of the Minnesota Wheelchair Athletic Assocaition. With your continued support, the MWAA’s vision and goals of providing adapted sports and recreational opportunities to Minnesota’s physically disabled can become a reality.

All the Best!

Scott Berg

“Sports and recreation has allowed me to make the save of my life.”

-Manny GuerraGold Medalist

2002 Paralympic Winter GamesSalt Lake City, UT

“Wheelchair athletics have been vastly important to me in my last 18+ years, but especially as an adolescent. As a teenager, wheelchair sports gave me the opportunity to compete and participate in an organized sporting activity at an age when my peers were doing this on a regular basis. One can easily see the self-confi dence, poise, leadership and team skills that I, and all ages of disabled athletes, develop as a direct result of participation in wheelchair athletics. There was nothing like the feel of winning an international wheelchair basketball tournament as a 16 year-old in Toronto, Canada.

- Scott Berg

“Wheelchair sports have given me an opportunity to shine in the world of athletics. Some people may think its not as competitive as regular sports but the level of competition of a sport is based solely on the level competition its players show. Whether you are 20, 30, or 40, everybody is competitive in some way and wheelchair athletics gives me a route to express this competitiveness inside of me. ”

- Brandon Downes

Wheelchair sports have brought me many opportunities in my live. I played on the fi rst Junior Wheelchair National Champion Team in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Junior Wheelchair Softball Tournaments and have coached a junior basketball team. It also gives me an outlet from everyday life and the opportunity to compete with and against my peers. Wheelchair sports offers the chance for me to coach a junior wheelchair basketball team and I truly enjoy being able to give back to the kids.

- Dan Price

Board of Directors

Name OrganizationJerry Anderson MWAA

Scott Berg Robert Half Technology

Brad Bombardir Minnesota Wild

Claire Braun Parent

Kelly Cochrane SilhouettEvents, Etc. LLC

Jay Ettswold Edina Realty

Jim Fahnhorst Former NFL Player

Manny Guerra RBC Dain Rauscher

Amy Heimer St. Paul Saints

Annie Huidekoper St. Paul Saints

Mary Livingston St. Paul Park and Rec

Karen Nichols General Mills

Amy Woog Patnode Minnesota Wild

Dino Perlman Entrepreneur

Chris Prigge Medicine Lake Extrusions

Mark Toupal St. Paul Park and Rec

Sharon Van Winkel Courage Center

Minnesota Wheelchair Athletic Association6873 Washington Ave. S

Edina, MN 55439p: 612.331.5600 f:612.216.1377

w: saintssoftball.com