Burnsville Police Department to travel to Washington D.C. as part of National Police Week, thanks to tulip fundraiser
The 101 Market and Garden Center is roughly 50 miles from Burnsville, but managers say the 2024 shooting death of three first responders is a tragedy that strikes the heart.
"I have a couple of police officers in my family, one of them retired in Colorado and the other is in Lakeville," said manager Pat Beruske. "When this happened last year, I was concerned for his welfare."
Burnsville police officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, along with firefighter paramedic Adam Finseth, were shot and killed in February 2024. A few months later, 101 Market raised roughly $76,000 to benefit the grieving families through a special tulip sale.
This year, the sale returned, and the store this week handed over a $12,000 check to help send those families — and the entire Burnsville Police Department — to Washington, D.C. for National Police Week.
"It's finishing the circle," Beruske said. "We helped them in their time of need, the tragedy, last year. Now it's a full circle moment. We're going to give them money to go to Maryland and Washington to try to heal, and get their closure."
Elmstrand and Ruge are two among 345 fallen police officers who will be memorialized this year in D.C. from May 11-17; other Minnesota officers being remembered include Jesse Branch, of Red Lake Nation Police; National Park Service Ranger Kevin Grossheim; and Minneapolis Police Officer Jamal Mitchell.
Kevin Rofidal, a retired Edina police sergeant who now sits on the Fraternal Order of Police Foundation board, told WCCO News the trip to D.C. will be a full itinerary that includes a vigil on May 13 at 7 p.m. and a memorial service on May 15 at 11 a.m.
"The second piece of it is there is some therapeutics and being around families and other survivors that have experienced something similar," he said. "We've learned a lot. We've learned a lot because of suicides in police, with survivors and PTSD, and it's finally being addressed."
There are several ongoing fundraisers for Burnsville, as Rofidal says the cost to send its 166-member delegation will cost roughly $75,000. The Minneapolis Police Department and its supporters are also raising money to send a large delegation.
