Jamaica is among several countries invited by Timothy Shriver, chairman of Special Olympics International (SOI), to attend a celebratory function to be hosted by United States-based lobbyist Tony Podesta.

Lorna Bell, the Special Olympics Jamaica (SOJ) executive director, left the island yesterday for the event, which is scheduled to be held today at Podesta’s private residence in Washington, DC.

Podesta, regarded as one of Washington’s most powerful fund-raisers, is co-founder and chairman of the Podesta Group.

The event is to celebrate the growing partnership between Special Olympics and humanitarian organisation UNICEF, and to showcase the positive impact it has had on the lives of children with intellectual disabilities globally.

Only recently, a UNICEF grant was approved for SOJ.

Bell, while thanking UNICEF, did not disclose the value of the grant.

“I am excited and thankful that Jamaica is one of the countries invited. SOJ has had a great working relationship with UNICEF and must thank the local representative Mark Connolly, who has shown a whole lot of interest in the movement and who has been observing the work of Special Olympics Jamaica over the years,” she said.

Lucy Meyer, official spokesperson of the Special Olympics United States Fund for UNICEF national partnership, Mary Davis, chief executive officer for SOI, and Caryl Stern, president and CEO of the US Fund for UNICEF, are expected to be in attendance at today’s reception.

Meyer is slated to visit Jamaica to attend the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes screening at the Llandilo School of Special Eduscation in Westmoreland on September 24.

The country is preparing to host the first Special Olympics Caribbean unified basketball competition later this year.

The Jamaicans also have their sights set on the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria set for next March.

The tropical island was a historic achiever at the previous Winter Games in 2013 in the Republic of Korea. The team won silver medals in two ice figure skating categories to go with a second-place finish in floor hockey.

Special Olympics empowers people with intellectual disabilities by promoting acceptance for all, and fostering communities of understanding and respect across the world.

The programme aims to provide year-round sports training and competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for people with intellectual disabilities.

The intellectual disabilities can either be acquired or genetic and can include cases of Down’s Syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injury.