Students, faculty participate in Special Olympics torch run
WAYNESBURG — The goal of the Special Olympics is to give those with intellectual impairments a chance to train year-round to develop physical fitness, make new friends and develop self-esteem and social confidence.
For several years, Greene County had a Special Olympics program, but it dissipated in 2009 leaving behind a void. Gone was a much needed program that promises fun activities important to the mental and physical growth of the intellectually disabled.
All that changed in 2013, when Jim Tanda retired as a supervising special agent for the Pittsburgh Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and took a position as instructor of criminal justice at Waynesburg University.
Tanda’s interest in the Special Olympics dates back to 1990 when he ran a half-marathon while carrying the famous Special Olympics torch during the Law Enforcement Torch Run in Glynco, Georgia. The experience sparked his desire to continue supporting the Special Olympics first as an ATFE special agent in Baltimore and later when he transferred to Pittsburgh.
In his new location, he got the Pittsburgh office involved in both the annual Torch Run and the Polar Bear Plunge, a swim in the icy waters of the Ohio River in the dead of winter, both of which raised thousands of dollars for the Special Olympics. He also attended an international Special Olympic conference in Calgary, Alberta, Canada where he was inspired to do more and returned with a reinvigorated interest in the program.
When he arrived at Waynesburg University in 2013, he saw the Greene County Special Olympics void and decided to introduce the program to the next generation of law enforcement professionals, i.e., the criminal justice students at the university, and thereby revive the program in Greene County.
As faculty liaison to the university’s criminal justice club, he worked with about 50 students who fund-raised for the Special Olympics, recruited student volunteers and got the word out to the community.
Realizing the need to reach more people both in the community and on campus, they began working with students from Red Brick Communications, Waynesburg’s student-run public relations firm,
“Together, we held meet-and-greet events for the athletes, their families, volunteers and members of the faculty and community,” Tanda said.
In the last couple of years, the program in Greene County raised over $10,000 participating in the annual Torch Run and Polar Bear Plunge in Pittsburgh. Now serving as director of fundraising for the Special Olympics in Greene County, Tanda gives much of the credit for reviving the program to Randi Chambers, manager of Special Olympics of Greene County, and Brianna Watt, a May graduate of early childhood education (special education) at Waynesburg University and training coordinator for the program.
“They dedicated enormous amounts of personal time and energy to the program,” he said.
At 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 31, Tanda was one of three runners to light the Law Enforcement Special Olympic Torch at home plate at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, then run three miles on the first leg of the 150-mile long run to State College.
From a point where Tanda and the other runners passed the torch to a Pittsburgh S.W.A.T. team, the torch was passed every three to six miles to another law enforcement team on its way to open the state’s Summer Special Olympic Games in State College.
The first leg of the run proved ground breaking in that the five students and faculty members from Waynesburg University were the first non-law enforcement professionals to participate in the Torch Run.
The Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) campaign to benefit the Special Olympics began in 1981 in Wichita, Kansas and is the largest grass-roots fundraising movement for the Special Olympics. Police officers, sheriff’s deputies, correction officers, support staff, police volunteers and other law enforcement professionals participate in the run.
Annually, more than 85,000 dedicated, compassionate and volunteer law enforcement officers participate in the run throughout 35 nations, 12 Canadian Provinces and 50 U.S. States, raising more than $52 million for local Special Olympics programs in 2015 and over $500 million since its inception in 1981.
This month, five athletes from Greene County participated in the Summer Games in the three-on-three basketball competition. Previously they qualified for the state games by participating in the sectional games in April held at Carnegie-Mellon University.
Three players and two subs that ranged in age from six to the late 30s all got equal chances to play in the games and won three of their four games, took first place in their division and went home with a gold medal.
“I’m very, very proud of the athletes,” said Watt, a training coordinator who supervised their hour and a half-long practice sessions each Sunday at the Waynesburg University gym starting in late November.
“In the future, we’d like to keep the Special Olympics Program in Greene County growing by adding more sports and athletes.
Tanda is especially thankful to university president, Douglas Lee, provost Dana Cook Baer and criminal justice department chair, Adam Jack.
“Not only did they show their support for what we’re doing here at the university, but they also encouraged us to connect our students to a very worthy cause,” Tanda said.