Law Enforcement Torch Run

The Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) is a year-round fundraiser and spreads awareness of Special Olympics in the community.  Every branch of state, municipal, county and federal Law Enforcement and friends of law enforcement participate in the LETR.  The funds raised by the LETR cover assessment costs for athletes to participate in the Program during their first year. 

 

In 1985, Chief Stan Stevens (ret) of Wolfeboro brought an idea back to New Hampshire from the Annual Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. That idea was the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics. Conceived by Chief Richard Lamungione (ret), of the Wichita Kansas Police Department, the LETR involved the carrying of the Special Olympics Torch, called the Flame of Hope, in a series of relay runs, from police headquarters to the Opening Ceremonies of the Special Olympics Kansas State Summer
Games. Chief Lamungione saw the Torch Run as an opportunity to raise public awareness and for the law enforcement community to raise money to support Special Olympics.

 

The Law Enforcement Torch Run transforms communities by inspiring people to open their minds, to accept and include people with intellectual disabilities, celebrating differences among all people … recognizing and respecting the similarities we all share.

 

For athletes and officers alike, the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics is a story of success, love, respect and commitment between law enforcement officers and Special Olympic athletes. 

  

 

Click here to read the Fall 2011 edition of The Guardian.

 

LETR Fundraising History