World News
Olympian's family gets support from their home parish in Michigan
Published: August 6, 2012
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- After a sprint, a cartwheel and one, two, three twists in the air, Jordyn Wieber landed precisely on the mat. On July 31 Wieber, 17, earned a near flawless score on the vault -- her score proved to be a major contribution to USA's women's gymnastics team's gold medal victory over Russia. In the stands were her parents, Rita and David, who made it to the 2012 Olympics in London to watch their daughter in no small measure because of the help of their home parish in Michigan, St. Jude Catholic Parish in DeWitt, in the Diocese of Lansing. Tickets for the women's gymnastics competition can cost thousands of dollars, causing some Olympic families to watch from their living rooms as their daughters perform. But parish office manager Christina Simon told Catholic News Service that the St. Jude community wasn't going to let that happen and she organized a fundraiser to help cover the estimated $40,000 cost of sending the Wieber family to London. "We'd watch her over the years progress and progress and become quite the little star," said Simon in a telephone interview, "so as she traveled more we asked Rita if we could do anything to help the family see Jordyn. Her siblings haven't seen her compete in more than three years because it was so expensive."
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