An annual run through downtown Tupelo (MS) continues to grow and will soon provide protective body armor to nearly three dozen officers across the region.
More than 400 runners registered for the Blessed are the Peacemakers run in September 2016. The run is organized by the Wives of Warriors support group, formed three years ago and now has nearly 250 members.
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“We raised twice as much as we did the year before and are able to fund 35 new vests this year,” said Wives of Warriors president Kim Rushing. “That means there are still about 130 officers out there still needing new vests. We’ll have to work even harder to promote the run this year.”
The vests cost around $750 each and many smaller departments can’t afford to buy new vests or replace the vests that are out of date. The protective vests have a life span of around five years.
“I called all of the departments in our region and asked how many did they need,” Rushing said. “We came up with a total of 166 needed. We would love to be able to provide that many, but only raised enough for 35.”
The group donated one vest to 28 police departments and sheriff’s offices from Lowndes County to Union County to Tishomingo County. The other seven vests were allocated among the departments that helped with the run.
