The Shriver family is very special. Mr. and Mrs. Shriver have helped more people via founding the Special Olympics and the Peace Corps than perhaps any other couple in US history. Their son, Anthony Shriver, founded and still leads Best Buddies, a charity we have supported for a long time. I also have a long standing relationship with Big Ken Holden, my e-Buddy. We email and talk every single day courtesy of Best Buddies.

Tim Shriver runs Special Olympics. Bobby Shriver founded RED with Bono.

Maria Shriver is the first lady of California and a best-selling author and journalist. We were classmates at Georgetown University together. I remain friendly with the entire family. There is no family I respect more than the Shriver’s.

You can imagine the collective groan we all made when our President made a joke – at the expense of people with special needs - last week on the Jay Leno show.

I know the President called the Shriver family afterwards to offer his apologies and to also re-commit to spending stimulus dollars to help drive better educational programs in public schools for families with these one of a kind needs. For all of that, we are grateful.

Words matter. Words can hurt and I bet any one of a dozen Special Olympians could beat our President at bowling to boot.  Check out how you can help Special Olympics today. Click this link.