Making A Difference

The sun is beating down on a ragtag group of soccer players known as the Angry Squids one hot May afternoon. A grueling day of state tournament soccer is now behind them and they proudly collect their bronze medals. Head coach Tony Le looks on at his group with a pride that anyone outside of the Fort Lewis Army post in Pierce County, Wash., might not understand. These Angry Squids finished all-defeated. They defaulted to third place in their group to take a last place medal, yet smiles still sweep over all of their faces. Coach Le is a hyper-competitive kind of guy who can’t stand losing, but to him these moments, “constantly remind me how to appreciate the smaller things in life.” You see these are no ordinary Squids. Carolyn, the leading scorer for the team is 28 years old, and is a huge fan of her coach. She offered just about every player on the team $10 if they were to score a goal, and after she scored her first made sure to let everyone know that they now owed her. Oh, and she has Down syndrome.

Volunteering for Special Olympics has been a part of Le’s life since college at Gonzaga University, with roots in high school when he began working with the developmentally disabled. During his undergraduate studies, the selfish guy he is, Le worked for the community service house on campus and was commissioned with coordinating a project for a specific susceptible population. Thus was born Gonzaga University Specialized Recreation, or GUSR. While a couple thousand other students’ idea of specialized recreation was more likely to include helmets with can holders, Le was busy trying to make a difference. While his peers were playing an unconventional form of ping pong, he was busy planning dances, retreats, renditions of plays such as "Lion King," and of course sports. Gonzaga’s old slogan read “Educating the people the world needs most,” and boy could we use a few more like this guy.

I know what you’re thinking, “That’s such a great thing to do, but I just have so much going on and don’t have the time.”

You want to talk about responsibilities? Tony Le has got ‘em. As a Structural Design Engineer at Cornerstone Engineering, Inc. in Woodinville, Wash., this guy’s busy enough, but he’s got a little extra pressure to deal with. Le’s parents are currently residing in Florida, and operate their own small business, but in this economy have had difficulty providing for their children. You see in Le's native Vietnam there is no question about sacrificing for your family, so guess who helped out. Just cracking open the seal on a career of his own, Le’s paychecks were being divvied up between his own expenses, his sister’s rent and expenses for her son, and the needs of three other siblings. Not quite what you dream of at graduation, especially as the second youngest in the family.

So let's run a quick inventory. Career? Check. Family responsibilities? Check. Time to dedicate to helping others? How about 25 hours a month. Sounds awfully reasonable to me.

Now, it’s July 3, day one of a three-day weekend to celebrate Independence Day. While everybody is out barbecuing and knocking back a cold one or enjoying a juicy burger, Le is busy with something really important. Today he’s hosting an "Ice Age" movie marathon! You see there’s a new movie that just came out in 3D and Carolyn can hardly wait to see it as they make an ice cream cake together. Her big sister Megan and some close friends wait impatiently for the tasty treat that they’ll have to abandon in the freezer to make the movie on time. Sure beats eating a pint of CHUNKY MONKEY and watching television alone, especially when your time can mean so much to someone else.