Sweet Home Police Department employees and volunteers are making their mark in the annual Polar Plunge fund-raiser for Special Olympics. Team SHPD Super Heroes, above, hit the chilly drink in the Willamette River Feb. 17 in Corvallis. They led the field of 20 teams – about 600 participants – in fund-raising, collecting just shy of $7,000 of the total $57,002 raised by the teams representing law enforcement agencies, businesses, high schools and fraternities from Linn, Benton, Marion and Polk counties. Sweet Home’s team also grew substantially this year, its seventh in the event, to 43 participants. They’ve raised a cumulative total of $21,621 since they started. This year’s team was sponsored by Joel Keesecker/Unified Insurance. Also, Sweet Home Community Service Officer Gina Riley finished as the top individual fund-raiser, totaling $1,540, just ahead of colleague Geoff Hamlin, Sweet Home’s Student Resource Officer, who raised $1,518. In addition to Hamlin and Riley, Sweet Home’s team, below, included Police Senior Officer Chris Wingo, Police Det. Cyndi Pichardo, City Permits Technician Molly Laycock, Public Works Maintenance Worker Ric Kopf, Police Officer Jerred Nelson, Police Officer Gerrit Southard, Police Dispatcher/Reserve Officer Sara Olson, Sweet Home Police Department Explorers Darrin Breshears and Logan Cockrell, and SHPD volunteers Edie Wilcox, Melissa Linday Cross-Hall, Mark Montigue, Crystal Montigue, Mason Montigue, Colby Montigue, Freddie Braaten and Ric Olson.
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