Special Olympics Minnesota Weathers the Economic Downtown

No Programs or Events Cut, No Athletes Turned Away

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In response to an Associated Press story that ran nationally Jan. 6, 2010 regarding funding difficulties for Special Olympics programs around the country, Special Olympics Minnesota is pleased to report continued success in 2009 and a firm plan for maintaining programming this year.

"Obviously, 2009 was a tough year for nonprofits," said Special Olympics Minnesota President Dave Dorn, "but we were able to tighten our belts here, and thanks to tremendous support, we weathered a fairly difficult fundraising year. While we did freeze open staff positions and salaries in 2009, we did not reduce or suspend any programming, and we did not turn away a single athlete."

Special Olympics Minnesota receives funding from a hundreds of individuals and corporations throughout the state. The nonprofit currently has a budget of $3.8 million and serves more than 6,500 athletes with the help of 27 staff people and more than 14,000 volunteers.

"While we certainly would have liked to have been able to expand our programs this year or last," continued Dorn, "we are very happy to have ended 2009 on budget and to have achieved the goals we had in place. This year we are again cautiously optimistic that we will be able to replace any lost funds with additional funding sources and provide our top-quality programs to every interested athlete in Minnesota."

Special Olympics Minnesota offers children and adults with intellectual disabilities year-round sports training and competition. Through Special Olympics' athletic, health and leadership programs, people with intellectual disabilities transform themselves, their communities and the world.

SOURCE Special Olympics Minnesota