Washington State Troopers Team Up To Raise Money for Children's Hospital
On July 10, 2004, Washington State Patrol Troopers set out for the 5th time to raise money for the Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center. I am Sergeant Carlos Rodriguez, and planned the first event back in 1998 with the hopes of raising money for a great cause through doing something that I loved. The first three events were very small in scale and we raised only about $4000 combined. In 2003 the event made nearly $5000.
This year, I teamed up with Nick and Dee Goobin from Danger Zone Paintball. Together we contacted paintball and non-paintball related businesses asking them to donate prizes for our raffle. To limit the strain on myself I had the help of Trooper Ruth Kosier and my teammates from DominonV3. I also had Troopers help sell raffle tickets prior to the event. The raffle prizes ranged from gift certificates to paintball markers (guns). All of the prizes were donated and all of the proceeds go directly to Children’s.
One of the people that helped make this event special was Luis Reier. Luis was injured in a snow boarding incident where he fractured his pelvis, shattered an ankle, suffered from a concussion, ruptured his spleen, and injured his spinal cord. He was paralyzed and things were not looking very well for Luis. In my line of work, I don’t usually see people recover from such injuries, but in my line of work I don’t always meet people like Luis. Luis has drive. With the help of his friends, family and self determination, he began to walk again. He did not give up. While Luis was rehabilitating, some of his friends contacted AKA asking for a price break on an Excalibur paintball marker, which Luis wanted very badly. Once Larry at AKA heard Luis’ story he had no problem donating a half milled Excalibur marker with all of the extras. Danger Zone paintball and Doug Fujimoto (AKA tech) helped to put everything else on the marker that Luis needed to play. Luis’ family and friends were present as we presented him with his new marker.
The only downside to this event was out of our hands. Danger Zone Paintball is located on Ft. Lewis, a military base. When the event was planned, our nation was not on Yellow Alert. Unfortunately, it was on the day of the event. Many participants were discouraged by long lines to get onto the base. This was obvious by 9am when there weren’t many participants at the field. We were expecting two to three hundred participants, but only had about 100 attend. At first I was disappointed because of all of the hard work we had done, but then as the event drew to a close people started coming up to me and thanking me for a great event. I looked around and saw that everyone was having a great time. Several people told me this was the best event yet.
In August we presented a check for $4100.00 to Children’s Hospital and met with the kids. We may have fallen short of our monetary goal, but that just means our goal ha been set for next year’s event.
The 6th Annual Paintball Fundraiser in 2005 will be bigger and better. I learn something new with each event. I hope this article inspires others to do the same in their own communities and learn from my experiences. When planning such an event, just remember you are helping those in need and educating the public about paintball. I also hope this article inspires businesses to donate prizes to my next event!
Please contact Sergeant Rodriguez with questions about planning an event in your area, with ways to improve his event or to donate prizes at:
sear0d@rainierconnect.com or
Sergeant Rodriguez
15666 Tukwila International Blvd.
Tukwila WA 98188
425-649-4370
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Through the years the number of businesses has increased, and so has the list of prizes. This year’s prizes consisted of:
1. Dye DM4 – 1
2. 3 marker packages from National paintball (marker, air, mask)
3. 2003 WGP Autococker form Danger Zone Paintball
4. Gift Certificates from Danger Zone Paintball - 4 sets
5. Tons of Derder DVD’s (300FPS and Vegas)
6. Odyssey O3m marker from Patriot Paintball
7. Seattle Mariner Randy Winn autographed baseball
8. AKA LMP sidewinders and gear bags
9. The Brooklyn Seafood, Steak, and Oyster House - $100.00 gift certificate
10. 2 Intimidator accessory kits from Action Pursuit paintball
11. Hybrid technologies R Drive regulator from Action Pursuit paintball.
12. Empire Reloader from Action Pursuit paintball
13. Empire 5+4 pod pack from Action Pursuit paintball
14. Applebee’s gift certificates – 3 sets
15. Olive Garden gift certificates – 2 sets
16. Red Robin gift certificates – 2 sets
17. Woodland Park Zoo – 4 tickets
18. The Seattle Symphony – 2 tickets
19. Comedy Underground – 2 sets of 2 tickets
20. TGI Fridays appetizer gift cards
21. Hooters Wing party
22. 2 prize bags from Chip’s Casino
23. Starbucks prize packs
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