Sen. Blunt looks at Special Olympic's training facility damage
JEFFERSON CITY - Sen. Roy Blunt visited the Special Olympic's facility on Tuesday to look at the tornado damage.
"Special Olympic athletes, their families, their support groups is strong and determined and that's what you'll see here as well, but Missourians are strong and determined and we will see that in all of these recovery efforts," he said.
Blunt said, in federal disaster laws, a smaller community may have a harder time than larger communities because they don't reach a certain number when it comes to the amount of damage.
"We are going to be working hand in hand with our state recovery officials and the governor and his administration to be sure that we qualify for all of the programs that you need to qualify for and if for some reason we don't then we go back and try to figure out what the alternatives may be," he said.
Susan Stegeman, President and CEO of SOMO, said it was devastating to see what happened to the facility, but they are already talking about the future.
"SOMO rebuild is our theme and are team is strong. Our athletes have called to volunteer and help us and said 'what can we do?," Stegeman said.
Blunt said he remembers being at the facility in November when it first opened its doors.
"I was involved about this building from the very start. We were here in November. Governor Parson, Governor Nixon and I were all here for a building we've all cared about to see the excitement of it being open and then to see in such short time nature play havoc with what people were trying to do," he said.
Blunt said rebuilding often makes people stronger in the end.