Rush Raise over $50,000 in Honor of Local Heroes

(Rapid City, SD) – The Rapid City Rush is proud to announce today that the organization was able to raise over $53,000 on ‘Hero’s Weekend’.  A portion of the proceeds will go directly to the Rush Foundation and the ‘Light the Night Campaign’.

“I am extremely happy with the way the Rapid City community showed their support for our local heroes,” said Rush General Manager Tim Hill.  “This entire weekend was dedicated to the police officers and firefighters in the Black Hills that make Rapid City such a great community to live and be a part of.  The money donated through the jersey auctions is our way of thanking and recognizing our outstanding police and firemen.”

This past weekend, the team celebrated ‘Police Officer Appreciation Night’ and ‘Firefighter Appreciation Night’ in a pair of games against the Wichita Thunder.  Players donned themed specialty jerseys that were auctioned off after each game with the final combined total coming to $53,350.

Light the Night is a community initiative to install solar lights and cameras along the Rapid City Bike Path, from Roosevelt Park to Memorial Park.  The project aims to improve safety and visibility along the path, while boosting recreational use of the area.

Rapid City Police, Rapid City Parks Department, and other community organizations have been working tirelessly to clean up the bike path and surrounding parks.  Since 2010, the RCPD Street Crimes Unit has worked to address safety issues and make the area a safe, family-friendly recreational area.  As part of that mission, officers met with the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Watch and other community partners to develop a plan to improve safety and recreational use of the bike path.  Light the Night has taken off, and with the support of the city and community the Rush Foundation hopes to light up the path by summer 2012.

For more information, visit www.lightthenightrc.com.