Spring Break
URI police 'pass the buck' for a cure
Jeff Sullivan
Issue date: 4/3/09 Section: News
04/03/09 - A University of Rhode Island police officer is going above and beyond his duty to serve and protect by patrolling campus for donations for the upcoming Relay for Life.
With a decorated paint bucket he bought at Lowes Hardware, Officer Mark Chearino is seeking small donations to help fund cancer treatment and research under the name "Pass the Buck - Cops for a Cure."
"Somebody at the Student Senate was talking about the Relay for Life and had said something like 'if you haven't been directly affected by the disease, you most likely know somebody who will,'" he said. "I thought about it and said maybe I can do something about that too. So I made my commitment to bring my can wherever I go except on dispatched calls. "
Chearino said the university gave him permission to collect donations of a dollar from anyone and everyone on campus.
He said the money he collects will be donated to the Relay for Life, which will then give his and other donations to the American Cancer Society for research into various types of cancer.
"Every ribbon on my can means support for a different type of cancer," he said. "So to not be specific to one type of cancer and make a charitable donation to the American Society as a whole, I figured I would put multicolored ribbons on there."
Chearino said he has not done something like this before, but that he has been directly affected by cancer and wants to help.
"I lost an uncle at a very young age [to cancer]," he said. "Unfortunately, I'm more a giver than a taker, so it's very hard for me to be hitting people up for money, but I have to try and overcome that for the cause."
He said he is actively involved in the Relay for Life and may put a team together for the event. But when it comes to his own personal donation collections, he said there is no reason as to why he can't collect $1,000 or more on his own.
"With a campus of 5,700 on-campus student residents, I don't see a reason why I wouldn't raise $1,000 in the couple of weeks that I'm going to be doing it."
He said he is also asking other officers in the URI station to get out on the campus to tell students, faculty and staff the nature of the his fundraiser and ask them to "Pass the Buck".
With a decorated paint bucket he bought at Lowes Hardware, Officer Mark Chearino is seeking small donations to help fund cancer treatment and research under the name "Pass the Buck - Cops for a Cure."
"Somebody at the Student Senate was talking about the Relay for Life and had said something like 'if you haven't been directly affected by the disease, you most likely know somebody who will,'" he said. "I thought about it and said maybe I can do something about that too. So I made my commitment to bring my can wherever I go except on dispatched calls. "
Chearino said the university gave him permission to collect donations of a dollar from anyone and everyone on campus.
He said the money he collects will be donated to the Relay for Life, which will then give his and other donations to the American Cancer Society for research into various types of cancer.
"Every ribbon on my can means support for a different type of cancer," he said. "So to not be specific to one type of cancer and make a charitable donation to the American Society as a whole, I figured I would put multicolored ribbons on there."
Chearino said he has not done something like this before, but that he has been directly affected by cancer and wants to help.
"I lost an uncle at a very young age [to cancer]," he said. "Unfortunately, I'm more a giver than a taker, so it's very hard for me to be hitting people up for money, but I have to try and overcome that for the cause."
He said he is actively involved in the Relay for Life and may put a team together for the event. But when it comes to his own personal donation collections, he said there is no reason as to why he can't collect $1,000 or more on his own.
"With a campus of 5,700 on-campus student residents, I don't see a reason why I wouldn't raise $1,000 in the couple of weeks that I'm going to be doing it."
He said he is also asking other officers in the URI station to get out on the campus to tell students, faculty and staff the nature of the his fundraiser and ask them to "Pass the Buck".
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