Rush Raise 20K for BuddyWalk

(Rapid City, SD) – On Saturday, the Rapid City Rush took to walking path in support of the 2010 Ups of Downs Buddy Walk.  This is the third year in a row that the Rush have been involved in the Buddy Walk, but this time the Rush organization was asked to lead the way for the annual event.  Rush players, coaches and staff all took part in the annual event along with Rush mascot Nugget and the Rushettes.

The Buddy Walk was established in 1995 by the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) to celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month in October and to promote acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome.  Today, the Buddy Walk program is supported nationally by NDSS and organized at the local level by parent support groups, schools and other organizations and individuals.

“The 2010 Buddy Walk was a remarkable event,” said Buddy Walk Director Mona Drolc.  “It was great to be able to hold it inside the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center with numerous attractions and tremendous amount of guests.  With the Rush so heavily involved, it was a different type of walk this year.  It was great to look around and see the Rush players serving the food, interacting with the participants, and overall just having a blast.  This was just so nice and we are already looking forward to next year’s Buddy Walk.”

Over the past fifteen years, the Buddy Walk program has grown from 17 walks to more than 280 in 2010 across the country and around the world.  Last year alone, 250,000 people participated in a Buddy Walk.  More than $9.5 million as raised to benefit local programs and services as well as the national advocacy initiatives that benefit all individuals with Down syndrome.

The Rush assisted in raising over $20,000 at this year’s Rapid City Buddy Walk, the most raised in the three years that Drolc has been an organizer.  In all, the 2010 event is expected to raise over $10.5 million nationwide.