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Troopers to battle it out for Special Olympics

The Berkeley Independent - 7/17/2017

Date? Sunday, July 23

Time? 2-4 p.m. with RiverDogs game at 5:05 p.m.

Cost? $7 per ticket

*Stop by Jones Ford on Rivers Avenue for tickets.

South Carolina Highway Patrol officers will soon trade their law enforcement uniforms in for athletic wear and take on neighboring Georgia State Patrol for the agencies’ annual softball competition for Special Olympics.

Last year the third annual game took place in Georgia and supported a different charity, but this month the match will return to Charleston at the RiverDogs stadium, according to S.C. Highway Patrol Sgt. Bob Beres with the Community Relations Office.

The event will take place 2-4 p.m. on July 23, law enforcement appreciation night, with the RiverDogs battling the Lakewood BlueClaws at 5:05 p.m. Just $7 apiece, tickets are available for purchase at Jones Ford in North Charleston and will also allow admission to the baseball game, Beres said.

Family-fun activities will also include a dunk tunk with local TV celebrities-one even serving as a coach.

With a loss to Georgia troopers on their home turf last year, Beres said his agency’s team remains undefeated in Charleston and even raised $6,000 in 2015, when the event was last held in town. But the competition is always friendly, and the support more for those living with mental and physical disabilities.

“The real winners are the...athletes that get to benefit from the money we raise by attending the winter and summer games,” Beres said.

All proceeds from ticket sales will directly benefit the Special Olympics South Carolina Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR), an international grassroots organization that first started in the 1980s as a simple event idea sparked by a small-town Kansas police chief, said SOSC Communications Director Leigh Lowery.

“We have a very active LETR group here in South Carolina,” she said.

At least 70 different law enforcement agencies statewide participate in the May event, carrying the torch, as “torchbearers” and “guardians of the torch,” and running locally from Isle of Palms to Columbia, Lowery said. A shorter run then occurs from Columbia to Fort Jackson, where the annual Special Olympics games occur.

Throughout the year, Highway Patrol conducts fundraisers like Cops on Top of Donut Shops to raise money for Torch Run.

“It’s a charity we hold close to our hearts,” Beres said.

Total funds raised have been increasing annually the last five years, including the highest amount to date collected in 2016: $888,600, Lowery said. But the ultimate goal is to reach $1 million.

Funds benefit athlete programs, covering everything from transportation to meals and housing for competitions.

“It doesn’t go to salaries or overhead,” Lowery said.

Nearly 26,000 athletes, ages 2 to upper 80s, participate in the athletic programs.

“Special Olympics is for life we believe,” she said.

Several cops also volunteer as coaches and unified partners of the organization; some even have children on the teams.

Lowery couldn’t thank law enforcement enough for all they do for the nonprofit.

“What these men and women do for us is amazing. They’re doing their jobs and on top of that, they dedicate themselves in coming and spending time with our athletics,” she said. “It started as a run, and it started as fundraising but it has globally morphed into something more than that. It’s really a fantastic partnership.”

To find a local program, visit sosc.org.