The officers in the Wake Forest Police Department had an ambitious goal for 2022: be one of the top-ten police departments in the state in raising money for the Special Olympics North Carolina.
They racked up an eight in 2022! That was an improvement from their twelfth place in 2021 and a mighty leap from number 30 in 2020.
The official word about their achievement was received today, January 18. This was the message sent to the Gazette in the afternoon: “Cpl McArthur just received a call from Leslie Moyar with SONC. It’s official that the Wake Forest Police Department has made it on the top ten list. Our police badge and name will be on the 2023 LETR t-shirt. What a great team effort with Cpl McArthur and the CRO’s to help make this happen. We should all be proud that we have officers and a community that are willing to support such a cause. Even as a small agency compared to others, we can still make a large impact and lead by example. Thank you Chief for supporting this program. The officers compete against other police departments in the state each year to see who can raise the most money.
“Our goal is to make it in the top ten this year,” Officer Robert Wilkinson, the department’s D.A.R.E. and Community Outreach Officer, said late last year.
“We were number 12 in the state last year. We had jumped up from number 30. We broke our record last year with over $32,000.” The Fuquay-Varina Police Department was number one last year with $75,472.68 in donations and the Raleigh Police Department was second with $68,887.02.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, which had not participated before, was number one in 2022 with $114,745.99, the Fuquay-Varina Department was second with $94,314.71 and Wake Forest was eighth with $30,944.39, edging out the Raleigh Police Department, who raised $29,299.38.
The Wake Forest Police Department raises money all year for Special Olympics at https://bit.ly/WFPDSpecialOlympics. All funds raised will go to SONC as part of The Law Enforcement Torch Run. For more information, contact Officer R. Wilkinson at 919-608-8472 or rwilkinson@wakeforestnc.gov or Cpl. J. McArthur at 919-554-6150 or jmcarthur@wakeforestnc.gov.
SONC is one of the largest Special Olympics programs in the world with nearly 40,000 registered athletes who train and compete in year-round programs in 20 different sports. The mission of Special Olympics 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.
The Law Enforcement Torch Run® (LETR) for Special Olympics is the largest year-round public awareness and grass-roots fundraising campaign for Special Olympics. Known as Guardians of the Flame, law enforcement members and Special Olympics athletes carry the Flame of Hope into the opening ceremony of local competitions, and into Special Olympics State, National, Regional, and World Games.
Annually, more than 110,000 dedicated and compassionate law enforcement members carry the “Flame of Hope,” symbolizing courage and the celebration of diversity, uniting communities around the globe. In North Carolina, nearly 2,000 law enforcement personnel support the NC LETR annually.
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November 5, 2024
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