22nd Annual Special Olympics
Plane Pull
Elizabeth Local 4 finds added strength
from two members
Elizabeth Local 4 member David Hav-
erty had not one but two secret weapons
during the Plane Pull — Officers Giggi
Arias and Gina Haverty, who also hap-
pens to be David’s wife, were at the front
of the line.
The two female officers helped give
the Elizabeth team one of the best times
in the fastest pull part of the competi-
tion, thanks to teamwork and a well-
thought-out plan of attack.
“We had a couple of strategies,” David
Haverty explains. “We wanted to do al-
ternating sides on the rope and pulling
the slack before the plane before we ac-
tually started pulling.”
He said that once Gina, who has only
been on the force for nine months,
watched last year’s competition, she was
determined to join in this time around.
“She was all about it,” David says.
“She was like, ‘Let’s do it!’”
Gina admits that pulling a plane is
a tough workout, but she had the time
of her life. “Oh, I loved it! I loved it!” she
says. “Oh, it’s a great feeling. It’s a feeling
of comradeship, just working together,
being a team. It’s just like how we are
Elizabeth Local 4 member Giggi Arias.
when we’re actually working together.
It’s the same feeling – we all know how
to help each other out. “
Ten-year veteran David placed
15-year-vet Arias as the team’s front an-
chor.
“She’s strong and short, so we want-
ed to go shortest in front to highest in
the back to try and keep that line as
straight as we could, so she was leading
us through it,” he explains.
Arias weight-trains on a regular basis
and says she is working to get to a point
where she is equally as strong as her
male counterparts.
“I’m getting there,” she says. “But I
have enough strength, just what I need.”
She adds that while she was thrilled
that her team did so well and pulled the
plane, the day was really about giving
back.
“We came to show support for the
cause and also to show people that we
can all be together and do something
good,” she says.
Freehold formation
The force that gets the 93,000-pound
aircraft moving when Freehold Town-
ship Local 209 takes its turn is a combi-
nation of all ages, sizes and T-shirt col-
ors. Todd Smith is one of the Local 209
members who wears yellow at the Spe-
cial Olympics Plane Pull each year, as
one of the event volunteers who helps
guide each team that steps up to the
rope. But when Smith sees his son Jake
walk onto the tarmac, he knows it’s his
turn to pull.
After so many years of working with
Smith and getting to know Jake, who is a
Special Olympics athlete, the Plane Pull
has become an annual effort by many
to support Smith and all of the athletes
who benefit from the cause.
“A lot of the guys feel that connection
with Todd,” explained Manny DaSilva,
who remembers holding Jake when he
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was an infant. “He’s been doing this for
a number of years, so we’re all very pas-
sionate about it.”
DaSilva and many other Local 209
members have shared their passion for
supporting Special Olympics with their
children. This year, DaSilva was joined
by his young son and daughter, who
pulled with all of their might, knowing
that they were muscling it out for their
friend Jake.
“They know Jake personally, and they
know they’re here for him,” DaSilva not-
ed. “They want to be part of it.”