Although it was a slightly damp Wednesday morning outside O’Melveny Elementary School, it didn’t deter any students who cheered and chanted “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” and “Go San Fernando!” as members of the San Fernando Police Department (SFPD) and Los Angeles School Police Department (LASPD) carried the “Flame of Hope” through the city for the 2025 Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR).
The City of San Fernando has been part of the event since 2016, helping to generate donations and awareness for the Special Olympics of Southern California (SOSC). Nearly 70 police departments across Southern California each carry the torch through their respective communities before passing it on to the next.
The SFPD received the torch from the LA Police Department (LAPD) Mission Division, running 2.5 miles through the small town’s streets as sirens blared ahead of them. They in turn passed the torch to the LAPD Foothill Division when they reached their destination at the Rydell car dealership.
“It feels good [to be part of this]. There’s a purpose to this,” said LASPD officer Jose Valle, who participated in the run for the first time and carried the flag for the team of runners.
“It’s about representing [Special Olympics] athletes at the end of the day and also being a role model for them and showing empowerment for them.”
De La Cerda Carries the Torch
Special Olympics athlete Gerardo De La Cerda, 37, carried the torch once again this year, which he’s done since 2017. He was first approached by former SFPD Commander Irwin Rosenberg to be part of the event. Although he was nervous at first, he was also excited, he recalled, and felt “so happy” to help raise money for other athletes like him who normally wouldn’t have a chance to compete.
“To me, [carrying the torch] means getting more people involved with the Special Olympics and teaching other athletes that if I can carry the torch, so can they,” De La Cerda said. “[Being part of the Torch Run] taught me how to be more independent and speak for myself.”
De La Cerda has a condition called hyperammonemia, characterized by an excess of ammonia in the blood. It resulted in a host of medical issues, including causing brain damage when he was an infant. Doctors initially told his parents he would never walk or talk, and that he would die by the age of 5. However, he persevered through it all, and although he still has health issues to this day, doctors have described him as a “medical miracle.”
He lives in the City of San Fernando with his parents, where he takes a literacy class to help with his vocabulary and goes to a program called BuildAbility to help him with life skills. He was also the vice president of the advocacy group for Easterseals Disability & Community Services’ Pacoima office.
De La Cerda has been competing in SOSC since he was 15 years old in a variety of sports, including soccer, basketball and bocce. He is now a part of their Global Messenger program that provides special olympic athletes with public speaking and presentation skills training so they can share their experience first hand and spread the message of the Games.
By telling his story, he said that it inspires others to get involved with the Special Olympics. De La Cerda wants to get more youth to join the Games.
“I want people to understand it’s OK to be different,” De La Cerda said. “We can [encourage] people to not be afraid, to come out of their comfort zone and to not be shy about their disability.”
The Crowd is Lighter This Year
Despite some of the lights and sirens of police cars and motorcycles that rang loud through the community, only a handful of people gathered this year to watch the SFPD both at the starting line and at their designated finish line to pass the torch. But those who were there cheered them on.
Jesse Garcia of the Odd Fellows of San Fernando, who congratulated the runners at the finish line, said, “We’re here to show support [for our community]. As a local nonprofit, we always like to give back. … I know a couple of guys running today and we’re always there for them and they’re there for us when we need them.”
The LETR will continue until Friday, when the last team carries the Flame of Hope to California State University, Long Beach, for the start of the Summer Games. The opening ceremony is at 6 p.m., and the competitions take place over the weekend from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
It’s About Respect
The Torch Run began in 1981 in Wichita, Kansas, and has evolved into an international fundraiser for Special Olympics athletes. Rosenberg – now the California state director of the run and a member of the Special Olympics Board of Directors – said that since its inception, more than $1 billion has been raised and 97,000 officers worldwide have participated in it.
Police departments in Southern California started joining the LETR in 1986, and to date, have raised over $23 million. This year, the SFPD managed to collect more than $7,200.
“What’s important is that all the athletes that participate in Special Olympics programs are able to take part at no cost to them,” Rosenberg said. “I think that’s really critical. We’re providing year-round [support]. It’s not just the Summer Games … but all the stuff leading up to it.
“It’s swim competitions in local communities, basketball competitions and track and field competitions,” he continued. “That’s just the sports element, but that’s what this is helping to support.”
Rosenberg explained that the Special Olympics is about more than just sports competitions – it’s about building self-confidence and creating long-lasting bonds. There are the unified sports programs, which put individuals both with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team, to “break down barriers” and educate people not familiar with the special needs community on the importance of inclusion and respect.
Respect is extremely important to Rosenberg, especially as people have used “another r-word” to insult those with intellectual disabilities. He explained that these athletes embody the oath of the Special Olympics: “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
However, there are many stereotypes associated with people who have intellectual disabilities, Rosenberg continued, and people are often quick to judge them. He recounted a story in 2016, when he was invited to the LETR International Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. He signed up to play on a unified basketball team with athletes with intellectual disabilities.
One of the other Special Olympics athletes named Bruce shared his story with the San Fernando team – how he had been described as a “retard” at many points in his life, and how deeply the word had hurt him. For Rosenberg, that was the moment the Torch Run was more than just a fundraiser.
“There are a lot of barriers to employment, a lot of barriers to how people perceive them,” Rosenberg said. “What we’re doing is breaking them down and giving people an opportunity to really see and focus on their abilities rather than their inabilities.”
Terri De La Cerda, Gerardo De La Cerda’s mother, attested to just how much of an impact these fundraising efforts have been to Special Olympics athletes. She said that these participants have to depend on someone else for the cost of their uniforms, equipment and venues.
It’s why her son works so hard to share his story and get more people involved with the SOSC, she continued, expressing gratitude towards Rosenberg for taking Gerardo De La Cerda “under his wing” and for the bond the two now share.
“He [Gerardo] was never fully aware of the funding and what it did until Irwin shared that information with him,” Terri De La Cerda recounted. “He was just having fun, but looking back, he realizes that it doesn’t happen on its own, that we need help. My husband and I are getting older now, and we just pray that he can continue to spread the word.
“I’m so grateful to the men and women who run and have treated my son with such respect, but also because you can see their hearts are in it,” she continued. “I just want to say thank you, most of all to Irwin. … He’s an example to my son to keep going.”
The SFPD is still collecting donations for the Special Olympics until June 30. To donate, go to https://secure2.convio.net/sosc/site/TR/Events/General?fr_id=2131&pg=team&team_id=12658.