Opening ceremonies for the annual Special Olympics – Nebraska Summer Games are set to start Wednesday night. Special Olympics CEO Carolyn Chamberlin says there are seven categories in this year’s competition that include volleyball, tennis, roller skating, aquatics, power lifting, gymnastics and track. She says athletes from across the state will travel to Omaha for the annual event. Athletes range in age from 8 years to 80 and all of them are going for the gold.

Chamberlin says sometimes people misunderstand the games and think the athletes are competing just for fun. She says it can get very hard core but it is also very inspiring. Each athlete is also competing for a spot in the national or world games. Chamberlin says we do have a floor hockey team going to South Korea to compete.

Opening ceremonies will be held at T-D Ameritrade Ballpark, downtown Omaha Wednesday night. Chamberlin says participants range in age from 8 to 80 and events wil be held ad different locations throughout the city through Saturday.

Letter carriers across the Husker State and the nation are asking you to plan ahead for the 20th annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive, which will take place on Saturday, May 12th.

Letter carrier Jim Sanner says they will be canvassing Nebraska neighborhoods looking for donations of non-perishable food items for the local food pantry.

Sanner says in his area they’ll be picking up the food throughout the day.

In addition to letter carriers like himself, some cities will be receiving a helping hand with volunteers from the United Way and the local food pantry driving by and picking up your donations.

He says the volunteers will be out by 9 AM, so if your delivery is later in the day, you can put the food out early. Sanner says it’s easy to donate any non-perishable food items.

“If you’re what we call a city route…if you could just place donations at or around the mailbox, that’s perfectly fine,” Sanner says. For rural routes, you can leave the food in or on the mailbox, or if you have a large amount of food, put it at the base of the mailbox.

Sanner asks that everyone do a quick check to be sure that none of the food items are expired.

“Over the years we’ve taken a number of items that are maybe beyond expiration dates, and the food pantry by regulation cannot distribute (expired food) to people, nor would they want to,” Sanner says.

He says the expired food has to be thrown out. For more information on the May 12th food drive, contact your local post office, or log onto: www.HelpStampOutHunger.com.

One of the largest Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the state is in south Omaha. Marcos Mora is coordinator for the event and he says thousands come from near and far to celebrate the annual May 5th festival. He says 55,000 people attended last year and they expect more to visit the city this year.

Mora says because of growing popularity they decided to expand the festival and added a health fair to his year’s event. Mora says the festival is a five day event that features live entertainment, food, carnival rides, a health fair and the highlight is the parade on Saturday at 10am. All of the activities take place along South 24th Street in Omaha.