Carolyn Olson receives Eunice Kennedy Shriver Legacy Award

A Carlsbad woman has received one of the highest possible honors for her work with the Special Olympics. This past weekend, Carolyn Olson received the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Legacy Award at a ceremony in Albuquerque hosted by Special Olympics of New Mexico. Olson serves as the Area Coordinator for the Special Olympics, so she’s responsible for all of southeastern New Mexico. She’s also a coach, head of delegation and board member. She was honored for her many decades of dedicated service to the Special Olympics. Anyone who has ever worked with Carolyn can tell you about her hard work and dedication, which she also extends to other projects such as community theater and the historical society. She started volunteering with the Red Cross when she and her husband Ole first moved to Carlsbad in 1963, and she hasn’t slowed down since. Along the way, she’s attended three international Special Olympics events and four US games. We’re incredibly fortunate to have Carolyn serving in Carlsbad, and this award by the Special Olympics was well deserved.

The City of Carlsbad has received advanced notice from Sen. Heinrich’s office that we are a recipient of a FY22 Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability & Equity grant. This DOT grant award notice is for $1,100,008 and will support planning and design for a proposed new bridge at Boyd Drive and Radio Boulevard, which is critical when there is flooding in the area. Thank you to members of our city council for their support in this project, as well as to members of our congressional delegation. Thanks as well as to Angie Barrios-Testa, KC Cass, Jeff Patterson, PSP and the Grant Plant Inc. for all of their hard work in preparing this application. Special thanks to former city administrator Steve McCutcheon, former city councilor Paul Aguilar, and current councilor Lisa Anaya-Flores for all of their support for this effort.

Carlsbad will host a visiting governor during a campaign event on Sunday. According to an event flyer, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Congresswoman Yvette Herrell will be the key participants in a “Mark Ronchetti for Governor” rally set for 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14, at the civic center. Doors for this free campaign event open at 2 p.m. and tickets are available at MarkRonchetti.com.

We know a number of Carlsbad residents worked very hard to set this event up, and we always appreciate any effort that allows us to show off our community to national leaders. We don’t know Governor DeSantis’ schedule that day, but we hope he’ll have time to tour Carlsbad or even visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Carolyn Olson receives Eunice Kennedy Shriver Legacy Award