A Passing of the Torch; Lenny's Tip-A-Cop Postponed

For the past 20 years, have literally stepped up and stepped out in support of Special Olympics Connecticut (SOCT) by running miles and waiting tables for the cause.

"The athletes," said Deputy Chief Thomas Fowler, are the reason the department returns every year to volunteer as runners in the Law Enforcement Torch Run and as servers for the famed Tip-A-Cop.

While there are future plans for a 2011 Tip-A-Cop, Fowler explains that he will not be organizing this year's fundraiser, which was expected to be held this week–the week of the Torch Run, just before the SOCT Summer Games (to find a nearby Tip-A-Cop, click here).

Concentrated on training and fundraising for a recent bike event, the to support the National Law Enforcement Officers' Memorial and Museum in Washington, D.C., Fowler said he lost track of time and forgot to organize the annual Tip-A-Cop at Lenny’s. For the past 10 years, Fowler shared that he’s been the motivating force behind the department’s participation with fundraising for SOCT and he even served on the SOCT counsel for the Law Enforcement Torch Run. Twenty years as a Torch Run participant, five to six years as the area Torch Run leg coordinator and 10 years as the Tip-A-Cop organizer, Fowler said he’s ready to pass the torch on to two eager Branford sergeants.

Not organizing the event this year in time for this weekend's games, he said, was in part, an underestimation of the community's desire to attend.

Also longtime Torch Run runners, Sergeant Kris Hormuth and Sergeant Dave Galdenzi will be organizing a future Tip-A-Cop during late summer or early fall, said Fowler.

“I have the utmost confidence that both, sergeants Hormuth and Galdenzi can carry on the successful tradition of Tip-A-Cop at Lenny’s. After many years of coordinating this event I feel it’s time to pass it along in hopes of bringing new energy and a new generation of officers to the event.”

Special Olympic athlete , who is a Branford resident and who has run the Torch Run since it began, said he’s glad to know that Branford Police will be doing a Tip-A-Cop in the future. "It’s the best thing," he said. "They raise a lot of money for us.”

The three-day Torch Run in which the “Flame of Hope” transverses 100 towns and cities in Connecticut for 530 miles, raised more than $500,000 in 2010 through events like Tip-A-Cop, Cop-on-Top and Jail N’ Bail. Last year, Branford contributed $7,626 to the cause­–$6,986 was raised through Tip-A-Cop. Fond of the Branford crew and their hard work fundraising, Laura Gremelsbacker, Vice President of Communications for SOCT, said she is grateful Branford is participating.

This Friday, when the "Flame of Hope" passes into Branford at Bill Miller’s Castle around 2 p.m., sergeants Hormuth and Galdenzi will be waiting for the Special Olympics athletes from SARAH Inc., and will run beside them through town. The leg that SARAH athletes will participate in (starting in Madison) runs from Deep River to New Haven where the SOCT Summer Games will be held at Southern Connecticut State University–the leg is coordinated by Guilford Police Department Sergeant Sandra Brooks-Coppola.

“I am excited about doing it," said Canning of Friday's Torch Run. "We all are. The cops in this town always help us out every year. They carry the torch because it’s pretty heavy. It’s a lot of fun and people come out and cheer us on every year.”