After Special Olympics Party Comes the Cleanup

One day after the last race was run at N.C. State's Derr Track, volunteers still have their hands full. Monday, they spent hours stacking folding chairs and carting off beams that held tents in place. It was hot, sweaty work, but they did not mind doing it.

"Well, by looking at my face, you can tell it's quite hot, but it's for a worthwhile cause," said volunteer Jeannie King.

Paul Hronjak volunteered all week during the World Summer Games. Now he is on cleanup duty sorting through uneaten bag lunches, saving what he can and throwing away the food that will spoil.

"It's a little bit of a letdown quite honestly, because most of our venue management team has been averaging 14- to 16-hour days for the last two weeks, seven days a week. Now that the games are over, we still have a lot of work to do, but it's not the rush of the buildup before the games," said Hronjak.

AtDorton Arena, theArmy National Guardis removing the roller-skating surface they built just two weeks ago.

They are sawing all 18,000 square feet of it into little pieces and hauling it away with a forklift.

"It breaks the heart of the 42 that built it, but they're ready to give it back to Dorton Arena," said Lt. Jerry Baird.

The team at Derr Track got a pat on the back for the work they did setting up.N.C. State's track coach took pictures for his recruiting brochure.