Special Olympic Athletes and law enforcement officers carry the Flame of Hope on the Santa Monica Pier on Friday, July 24, 2015. The Law Enforcement Torch Run® for Special Olympics is the Special Olympics Movement's largest grass-roots fundraiser and public awareness vehicle. At its most basic level, the Torch Run is an actual running event, in which officers and athletes run the Flame of Hope™ to the Opening Ceremony of local Special Olympics competitions as well as State, National and World Games. The Flame of Hope was lit from the rays of the sun in Greece, the home of the Olympics, and traveled across the sea to the United States where it journeyed to communities throughout the country and Southern California, ending at the Opening Ceremony in the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
