Whitfield County Law Officers Carry Torch For Special Olympics

Students from Valley Point School extended their hands and cheered loudly for the 16 runners from the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Department  who participated May 13 in the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run for Georgia Special Olympics.

“This is the 29th year that deputies from the Sheriff’s Office have participated in this annual fund-raiser to support children from around the state with special needs,” Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said while watching the runners stretch and chat with one another before beginning on their journey.

Participants gathered at the old county jail, then headed down Thornton Avenue to Bryman South, where they climbed onto a county bus to head to the South Bypass. There they unloaded and began running south to U.S. 41.

As usual, officers took a water/bathroom break at Valley Point Elementary School as hundreds of students lined up on both sides of the driveway to greet them with high-fives and  hand-slaps as they ran through.

After a 15-minute break, they headed south again to hand off the torch to more lawmen waiting at the Gordon County line.

The total route for the local officers was nine miles, starting in the parking lot of the “old jail” and running to the Gordon County line.

This year, the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office has already raised about $750 for Special Olympics and continues to offer T-shirts and caps for sale and accept donations. If you’d like to make a contribution or a purchase, contact Sgt. Tammy Silvers at the Sheriff’s Office at 706-279-1879.

The Law Enforcement Torch Run is the largest annual fundraising event benefiting Special Olympics Georgia. This signature event plays a significant role in Special Olympics Georgia’s annual budget.
The mission of Special Olympics Georgia is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community.

Through the generous efforts of  more than 180 Publix stores in Georgia asking for donations from customers in exchange for Paper Torch Icons, Publix Supermarkets was able to raise more than $614,000 for the 26,698 athletes of Special Olympics Georgia.

The Law Enforcement Torch Run involves more than 1,000 law enforcement officers from more than 100 agencies who take part in a 1,000 mile, two week torch relay to pass the Special Olympics Georgia “Flame of Hope” across the state. All of the 11 relays converge at Emory University (Atlanta) during the State Summer Games Opening Ceremony.

The Torch Run culminates at the State Summer Games as officers enter the Opening Ceremony with the Olympic Torch – the Flame of Hope. The Torch is passed to a Special Olympics athlete who lights the Olympic cauldron signifying “Let the games begin!”

More than 1,700 athletes, 600 coaches and 1,800 volunteers are expected to participate in this year’s Georgia games, which includes events such as soccer, volleyball, tennis and swimming.
The Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics, the largest grassroots fundraising program for the cause, began in 1981 when Wichita, Kan., Police Chief Richard LaMunyon saw an urgent need to raise funds for and increase awareness of Special Olympics.

The idea for the Torch Run was to provide local law enforcement officers with an opportunity to volunteer with Special Olympics in the communities where the officers lived and worked. After three years of successful runs in Kansas, Chief LaMunyon presented his idea to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which endorsed Special Olympics as its official charity through the Torch Run. Today, all 50 states and more than 40 countries have their own versions of the Torch Run.