State organization's CEO hopeful lawmakers will restore $50,000 cut.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — It’s good… for now.

President and CEO of Special Olympics New York Stacey Hengsterman says she’s grateful for the $150,000 her organization will receive from state government this year.

But it’s $50,000 less than last year, and the cut comes immediately after a storm of controversy involving the Trump administration’s short-lived proposal to eliminate federal funding for Special Olympics.

The firestorm of criticism last week ended with President Trump himself announcing he’ll restore the reported $18-million dollars for Special Olympics.

The New York chapter had received $200,000 from Albany last year, but was allocated just $150,000 in the current state spending plan.

Hengsterman is hopeful state lawmakers will find a way to restoring all funding for Special Olympics New York.

In the meantime, Hengsterman says, “If we were to lose the funding, we would have to make it up. We already raise several million dollars a year to support Special Olympics but we would need to add on to the ledger of money that we need to raise.”