Author: Meredith Hemphill
The year was 2009. North Carolina State Highway Patrol’s First Sergeant Brent Hipp was getting ready to take a refreshing splash into Lake Hickory. Very refreshing, that is, because it was the middle of winter and had just snowed several inches.
“The lake was partially frozen,” F/Sgt. Hipp remembered. “They had to back a boat in to break the ice.”
What could possibly inspire such behavior? Why, raising money for a worthy cause, of course. That was F/Sgt. Hipp’s first Polar Plunge, one of the many fundraisers SHP conducts to benefit the Special Olympics of North Carolina. In honor of Volunteer Week, we are highlighting SHP’s extraordinary contribution to this worthy organization. In 2023, the patrol raised a record $70,934.68 for Special Olympics. According to F/Sgt. Hipp, who has been the State Coordinator for the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics since 2018, SHP had raised about $8,000 in previous years. How did the patrol increase their fundraising total by almost a factor of nine last year? First, we need to understand little bit about SHP’s history with Special Olympics.
The Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) originated in Wichita, Kansas, in 1981 when Chief Richard LaMunyon wanted to involve his department in raising money and awareness for Special Olympics. The idea caught on quickly, and in 1987 the first LETR was organized in North Carolina. Relays from Raleigh and Charlotte met at UNC Chapel Hill’s Fetzer Field where the Special Olympics Summer Games were being held. Today, six LETR relays are run from all over the state, culminating in the Circle of Honor and lighting of the cauldron at the Special Olympics Summer Games opening ceremony. The LETR has also spun off a variety of creative fundraising events that occur year-round, and SHP is heavily involved in all of the above. Events include plane pulls, Publix Grocery Store Campaigns and, of course, the Polar Plunges. The patrol has even started their own new fundraising events. For three years, F/Sgt. Hipp organized the Troop G 5K Glow Run in Hendersonville, for example.
The LETR t-shirts that NC Special Olympics makes each year list the names of all participating agencies that raise at least $7,000 and prints the badges of the top ten. In 2022, Colonel Freddy Johnson Jr., commander of the NC State Highway Patrol, challenged the agency to be one of those top ten with their badge on the t-shirt. Patrol members rose to the challenge. Participants throughout the agency pitched in to help fundraise. Their efforts included:
- Two members participating in a Polar Plunge at the Outer Banks.
- Assisting in the Publix Campaign in stores from Haywood County to Nags Head.
- A t-shirt sales competition across the state.
- Statewide participation in the LETR.
- Two teams participating in the Plane Pull.
- Two members going “Over the Edge,” a fundraiser that involves rappelling down a building in downtown Raleigh.
- A “Cops on Top” event in Haywood County where law enforcement officers camped out for the weekend on a Wal-Mart rooftop.
With their impressive total, NC State Highway Patrol came in third place in the state and succeeded in getting their badge printed on the 2024 NC LETR t-shirt.
F/Sgt. Hipp gives credit to command staff and specifically Col. Johnson for providing motivation and leading by example. Col. Johnson participated in the plane pull in full SHP uniform, ran in the Final Leg of the LETR and helped with the opening ceremony for the Special Olympics Summer Games. Col. Johnson’s commitment to the LETR and other fundraising efforts for Special Olympics was recognized with the Official of the Year Award at the 2024 North Carolina Law Enforcement Torch Run Conference in Cherokee.
SHP’s 2024 fundraising efforts are already well underway. The LETR relay has already begun. The final leg in Raleigh will be on May 31st. The Torch Run T-shirt Competition will begin soon and runs through May 15th.
This year, SHP is also conducting a Dunkin Campaign. Troopers can be found at select Dunkin Donuts locations across the state from May 5th through May 18th. They will be greeting guests alongside Special Olympics athletes and selling paper icons.
For more information about Special Olympics and fundraising events, visit the following resources: