The following is an excerpt of the article titled Meet Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s Grandkids, Who Are on a Mission to Carry Her Special Olympics Torch published by People.
Now the Shriver cousins are following in their grandmother’s footsteps as ambassadors for the organization.
“It was ingrained in us since the day we were born,” says Christina, a producer and documentary filmmaker who helps Special Olympics with marketing ideas. “I was 6 or 7, and she’d be like, ‘Are you starting a Special Olympics chapter? Get me a list of 50 people — you’re going to create it by the end of this week.’ And I’d be like, ‘Grandma, I don’t even have a phone.’ But it was this mentality of ‘figure out what the problem is, and come up with a solution.’ “
The cousins got the best training possible, having spent summers with Eunice at the family’s homes in Maryland and Cape Cod.
“Immediately upon arriving, there were five different athletes who you’d jump in the pool with or play sports with — it became a way of life,” says Kathleen, a journalism grad student at Columbia University who develops social media campaigns with Special Olympics athletes.
Read more about Eunice Kennedy’s Shriver’s legacy in the July 19th 2021 issue of People.