Police with the Buffalo Grove Police Department kept fielding the same question during the recent Buffalo Grove Days festival: "What makes you want to do something crazy like this?"
Specifically, they wondered why seemingly normal police officers would want to roll up their sleeves and try their hand at tugging a plane. That's right, a plane.
The Buffalo Grove police are the latest to team up and join the Plane Pull taking place at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at O'Hare International Airport. Some 17 teams from law enforcement agencies will be facing off with either a UPS Airbus A300 or United Airlines 737 aircraft for the benefit of Special Olympics Illinois.
Other suburban departments crazy enough to participate include: Deerfield, Morton Grove, Niles, Park Ridge, Rosemont, Round Lake, Woodstock and the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
The event is in its seventh year, and is one of a series of fundraisers that comes under the heading of the Law Enforcement Torch Run. Last year, the plane pull alone raised $150,000 for training and equipment for Special Olympians in Illinois and the overall Law Enforcement Torch Run events raised a whopping $4 million.
Buffalo Grove Police Chief Steven Casstevens has been raising money for Special Olympians since his days with the Hoffman Estates Police Department, though he concedes he never pulled a plane to do it.
"It just sounded like fun. It's something challenging and different," Casstevens says. "It's one more way to show our support for these Special Olympic athletes."
The rank and file agreed. The team is limited to 20 members, and Casstevens says he had no trouble filling it.
Buffalo Grove combined with Hoffman Estates police to help design a recent truck convoy event -- another Law Enforcement Torch Run event -- which routed 67 trucks from the Sears Centre down I-90 west to Route 47, and back. It raised $19,000 for Special Olympics Illinois. A similar event will take place Oct. 10 in Tinley Park.
The plane pull brings out a supporters willing to put everything on the line.
"We're excited to see them test their strength against a 90-ton airplane," says Matt Johnson, Special Olympics Illinois Vice President -- Development & Donor Relations. "It's just great to see people supporting Special Olympics programs in Illinois."
Since first responders and their respective agencies began participating in Law Enforcement Torch Run events nearly 30 years ago, they have raised $35 million, officials say, while increasing awareness of Special Olympics Illinois athletes and their accomplishments.
Every year, Special Olympics Illinois offers year-round training and competition in 19 sports for nearly 22,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities, as well as nearly 21,000 Young Athletes ages 2-7 with and without intellectual disabilities.
The mission of Special Olympics programs is to enhance physical fitness, motor skills, self-confidence and social skills, while encouraging family and community support.
Ultimately, officials with Special Olympics believe their programs change lives by empowering people with intellectual disabilities to realize their full potential -- in sports and in life.
From the sounds of the plane pull, it appears the organization and its athletes are having that kind of effect on its supporters. Let the tug of war begin!
Source: http://www.dailyherald.com
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