CITGO to cover fuel costs for 36 support vehicles as Special Olympics athletes carry a torch throughout the U.S. to build excitement for the Summer World Games.
As the official fuel sponsor of the United Relay Across America, CITGO Petroleum Corp. employees, friends and family are joining members of the Special Olympics community in Chicago for a ceremonial lighting of the cauldron event at Polk Bros Park on Saturday, June 13, which will kick off the event.
The Unified Relay Across America brings the Olympic torch along three routes, traveling across the country before reaching the 2015 Summer World Games in Los Angeles. The relay is designed to build momentum for the Summer World Games and to celebrate diversity, respect and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities.
Over the upcoming weeks, participants throughout the country will continue to exchange the torch hand-by-hand, ultimately delivering it to Los Angeles on July 10. As the official fuel sponsor, CITGO is covering fuel costs for 36 support vehicles traveling with the torch on three simultaneous routes, which will touch all 50 states and cover a number of key CITGO market areas.
“CITGO Petroleum is proud to be the official fuel sponsor of the Unified Relay Across America, which celebrates the values of respect, inclusion and fraternity that we share with the Special Olympics,” said Jim Cristman, vice-president of the CITGO Lemont Refinery at the event on Polk Bros Park.
“We are passionate about supporting these special athletes, which is the reason CITGO has proudly held a long-standing relationship with the local chapters of the Special Olympics in many of the areas where we work and live,” he added.
CITGO is a dedicated supporter of charitable and high-impact organizations like the Special Olympics. Since 2013, CITGO employees have donated nearly 2,000 hours of their personal time to the various benefits and charity events associated with the organization in the United States.
The CITGO Lemont Refinery, located approximately 30 miles outside of downtown Chicago, benefits the surrounding communities, not only as a major supplier of petroleum products, but as a major employer, community leader and taxpayer. CITGO annually contributes more than $350 million to the local economy through salaries, benefits, goods, services and taxes.
