Statewide Iowa — (RI) — The summer games of Special Olympics Iowa is the latest victim of the coronavirus pandemic.
John Kliegl is the organization’s chief executive officer.
(As above) “We’ve had to shut down everything, practices, training, our events, not only our program events but our fundraising events as well,” Kliegl says. “We’ve suspended everything through May 31st.”
Kliegl says it was a tough decision to make but had to be done to protect all of the competitors from across Iowa.
(As above) “We have over 14,000 participants in all 99 counties,” he says. “This is truly impacting every one of them, as well as our volunteers.”
Kliegl hopes the practices and events can resume soon. The Special Olympics Iowa summer games are usually held in Ames. The program has a 50-year history of sponsoring a way for mentally-challenged youth and adults to compete in athletics.
