MONROE, CT — A crowd of cheering Monroe Elementary School students held up signs supporting police officers, their principal Kelly Svendsen and some classmates participating in the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run® Friday morning.
The Torch Run raises awareness for Special Olympics Connecticut and its athletes.
When Monroe police officers got ready to run behind a police pickup truck before leaving the Town Hall parking lot, Special Olympian Jeffrey Fair, 26, and his mother, Alli Fair, of Fairfield, stopped by to see them off.
“Thank you for your support,” Jeffrey said.
Jeffrey, who will compete in the 50 meter run and the shot put for Special Olympics Shelton, has been a Special Olympian for 11 years. Alli said he started out competing in swimming.
“I decided to do track,” Jeffrey explained. “I’m an outdoor kind of boy.”
Monroe’s police officers left the police station at 7 Fan Hill Road at 11 a.m. and ran all the way to Main Street in Trumbull. The Torch Run continues with many Connecticut police departments participating, eventually ending in New Haven.
