Members of the Meredith Senior Center have knit more than 100 blue and white scarves that are to be worn by New Hampshire Special Olympians during the opening ceremonies of the Winter Games set for March 4-6 at Waterville Valley.

Pat Sullivan said she suggested the project to Ann Keller, her neighbor and a volunteer coach for a Special Olympian at Gunstock, after her friend Barbara Locke of North Reading, Mass., knit 260 of the 500 scarves needed to attire the entire team.

Keller picked up the scarves last week and spoke about her connection with her Special Olympian and the special friendship they have forged both on and off the slopes.

"My Special Olympian taught my granddaughter how to ski and I could hear me talking, 'Jordan don't look all over the mountain. If you look down the mountain your skis will follow,'" she recounted.

Special Olympians and twin sisters Pam and Patty Langille also spoke of their 20-year participation in the program, most recently as members of the Artful Dodgers basketball team.

Pam has the chance to participate as a cross-country skier during the Special Olympics World Winter Games held in Japan and clinched a gold medal in the one-kilometer race.

"The Special Olympics is about making new friends, doing well in sports and helping people," Pam Langille told a lunchtime gathering at the Meredith Community Center.

Carol Cray, director of development for New Hampshire Special Olympics based in Manchester, said the nonprofit organization has a $1.6 million annual budget, the bulk of which is raised through donations stimulated by special events and direct marketing campaigns.

"We have a zero budget. Whatever we make we spend," she explained.

The organization has a paid staff of just eight and relies on 400 to 500 volunteers each year to train athletes and run the games.

"It's a myth that the Special Olympics is a two-day track meet held in the middle of summer," Cray said of the group's year-round involvement in helping those with intellectual challenges train and compete in a variety of sports.

The first New Hampshire games were held at Phillips Exeter Academy. The summer games are now held at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

Becky Carey, executive director of the Meredith Senior Center, said other projects the Senior Lakers have recently completed include a six-by-eight-foot quilt that was created jointly with children participating in the after-school program at the Community Center.

The children were asked to sew their own square and to include an outline of their own hand. Carey said plans call for the quilt to be framed and hung in the entry way to the gymnasium at the Community Center.

The Senior Lakers have also been continuing to knit clothes for Baby Threads.

"The heart and care behind them is tremendous," she said.

Local seniors have also been making hot and cold packs that are being given to area hospitals, including Veteran Administration hospitals in New Hampshire and Vermont as well as to visiting nursing services.

State Sen. Deborah Reynolds attended the luncheon and updated area seniors by saying the H1N1 flu vaccine is expected in the state by Oct. 1.

Volunteers participating in the annual United Way Day of Caring also joined in activities at the Senior Center on Friday in celebration of National Senior Center Month, including Debbie Cotton and Susan Spooner from Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage; Denise Hubbard and Judi Tucker of Meredith Village Savings Bank; Teri LaBarge and Elaine Barros of Shaw's at the Belknap Mall; Linda Normandin of the Taylor Community and Karen Gifford of Lakes Region Community Services.