Planners have been working for two years on the first ever National Special Olympic U.S. Games that’ll be held in Ames and now they’re headed into the home stretch. National Special Olympics President Bruce Pasternack says things are falling into place as they hit the 12-month countdown.He says it takes thousands of people to get it done on the state and national level, but he says they have a plan in place a know where they’re going. Pasternack says there are still a few things to wrap up. He says fundraising is always a challenge and making sure all the details of handling thousands of people coming in from all over the country and making sure they have a quality experience is important. Iowa Special Olympics President Rich Fellingham has some of the same concerns. Fellingham says he has one volunteer working full-time to make sure all the venues for the athletes are ready. He says that’s coming along very well. He too says fundraising is something they’re still working on and says they’re about 60-percent of the way to raising the nine-million dollars they need. While it’s still one year away, Fellingham hopes Iowans start to take notice and plan to take part. “It’s uh, an event that we hope that by July 1st of next year when these athletes arrive in Iowa, that every person in Iowa feels that they’re a part of these games. ” Fellingham says. The games run July 1st through July 8th on the Iowa State University campus in Ames.
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