Police pitch in for SC Special Olympics

Lexington police officers greeted diners at the town’s two Chick-fil-A restaurants last week as they collected donations for the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics South Carolina.

Folks who gave $10 received a card for a free entrée courtesy of Chick-fil-A, and a $20 donation gave patrons a choice of a Special Olympics torch run T-shirt or baseball cap.

Sgt. Cameron Mortenson, public information officer for the Lexington Police Department, said 100% of proceeds support Special Olympics athletes.

“It directly supports athletes, so it doesn't pay the rent, doesn't pay for employees, but it pays for any of the costs involved for athletes — their equipment, their games, their travel, their lodging,” Mortenson said. “To have that direct impact is something that's very easy for us to understand how important that is.”

The fundraiser, billed “Cops on the Coop for Special Olympics,” took place from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23 at the Chick-fil-A locations at 5560 Sunset Blvd. and 4295 Sunset Blvd. Police manned a booth outside the restaurant entrances, and officers were also stationed along the restaurants’ famously fast-moving drive-thru lines.

“Today when I was working the drive-thru, there were several families that came through, and they had children or even adults that had are or had been Special Olympics athletes,” Mortenson said. “It was pretty neat to interact with them and figure out what games they had participated in.”

The police department didn’t have a fundraising goal for Cops on the Coop, but Mortenson said the agency has raised as much as $25,000 for Special Olympics in years past.

Special Olympics provides year-round training and competition in Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Law enforcement agencies across the country have adopted the cause, but it’s especially significant to the Lexington Police Department and Lexington County Sheriff’s Department because the Special Olympics South Carolina administrative office is located in Lexington.

“There's 32,000 Special Olympics athletes in the state of South Carolina, and any money that you give goes directly to that cause,” Mortenson said. “If you think about the level of volunteerism it takes for folks that work with Special Olympics, and then all the logistics and planning, travel, practicing to get these athletes ready, it’s pretty neat to be a part of it.

The LPD’s spokesman and Special Operations Division sergeant called Chick-fil-A “an incredible community partner.”

“Folks will ask, ‘Why do you always do Chick-fil-A?’ It’s because folks come here for breakfast, those same folks will come back for lunch and sometimes they come after school after they get their kids for a snack,” Mortenson said. “So we’re just able to interact with an incredible number of people at our Chick-fil-A locations.”

Britt Sims, owner-operator of both Chick-fil-A stores on Sunset Boulevard, said she’s proud to partner with Lexington police for Cops on the Coop.

“It's an honor and a privilege to work with our local law enforcement to raise money for the Special Olympics,” Sims said. “Our guests are amazing. I mean, they're so generous and they're so thankful for our law enforcement and to be able to come to Chick-fil-A, have a great meal and give back.”

The fundraiser holds a special significance for Sims, a Lexington native.

“I was raised here in Lexington, so to get to kind of give back to the community that raised me is a gift and a privilege,” she said. “So we thank all of our guests and our customers for coming out and supporting.”