Local Law Enforcement Carries ‘Flame of Hope’ For Special Olympics

Ready to run

OSWEGO – Members of several local law enforcement agencies carried the “Flame of Hope” for a run from the Oswego Police Department to the Oswego Police Department today (May 29) in the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics New York.

Oswego’s Law Enforcement Torch Run is part of the state-wide event that takes place every year from May through June.

Oswego Police Department, Border Patrol, Oswego County Sheriff’s Department, University Police at SUNY Oswego and New York State Police participated in the 3.5-mile jaunt from and back to OPD.

“We’ve been doing this for a number of years,” Oswego Police Chief Tory DeCaire told Oswego County Today. “We’re proud to help support the Special Olympics program and our local athletes.”

Historically, the event begins at the Oswego Police Department and concludes at the Fulton Police Department, aboute 12 miles away.

Some have even started from University Police headquarters on the SUNY Oswego campus.

However, last year, they decided to tighten up the event.

“We want to raise awareness,” the chief explained. “So we created a route through the city, so more people will see us rather than when we ran down 481. It’s also safer.”

The runners head out

The run has been an annual event in Oswego for more than 20 years, with the execption of a couple years’ lapse.

Cassandra Rucker, Special Olympics’ director of development, Central Region and Southern Tier, helped reinvigorate the run and Lt. Charles Searor spearheads the local organizing efforts.

Around 50 runners, two-legged and four-legged, took part in the 2019 event.

The LETR helps raise awareness and funds for Special Olympics New York athletes, according to Rucker.

LETR is a year-round, grassroots fundraising campaign by law enforcement agencies across the globe to benefit local Special Olympics programs.

The run is a time honored tradition of more than 30 years, led and orchestrated by the “Guardians of the Flame,” which includes more than 6,000 law enforcement personnel from 470 agencies throughout New York State.

Their ultimate goal is to raise funds and awareness for the athletes of Special Olympics New York.

The Law Enforcement Torch Run began in 1981 when Wichita, Kansas, Police Chief Richard LaMunyon saw an urgent need to raise funds for and increase awareness of Special Olympics.

It was quickly adopted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, now recognized as the founding law enforcement organization of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics, Rucker explained.

Each year, officers carry the “Flame of Hope” through the streets of their hometowns and countries to deliver it to their local, state and national Special Olympics games.

“There’s no community too big or too small,” Rucker said. “We have athletes training year round all across the state that benefit from this and other events.”

The Olympics Torch makes its way around New York State leading up to the Special Olympics New York Summer Games, which will be held in Dutchess County June 14-15.

“More than 1,200 members of our Central New York law enforcement community take part in Torch Run events across the region, including Oswego County,” Searor said. “As guardians of the Flame of Hope, we hope to raise awareness and funds for our Special Olympics athletes here in New York.”

In addition to supporting Special Olympics athletes, LETR raises funds for the Special Olympics New York Summer Games.

Thousands of individuals, including Special Olympics New York athletes, coaches and volunteers, are expected to attend the weekend of competition. Events include basketball, volleyball, track and field, tennis, bowling, gymnastics, swimming and powerlifting.

Since inception, LETR has raised more than half a billion dollars and changed millions of attitudes.

Special Olympics is the largest amateur sports organization in the world.

With more than 68,000 athletes, Special Olympics New York is the largest chapter in North America, the sixth largest chapter in the world and has grown to include 66,835 athletes and unified partners and is arguably the best in both quality and quantity in the world.

There are 5,750 competitions held in New York State each year.

“Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

For more information or to donate, please visit www.nyso.org . #SpecialOlympicsNY

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2 Comments

  1. typo:”Members of several local law enforcement agencies carried the “Flame of Hope” for a run from the Oswego Police Department to the Oswego Police Department.”

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