Southeast student raises over $70,000 for the families of fallen heroes

Rockin' 4 Relief, a non-profit organization that Southeast Missouri State University student Jennifer Rubin started when she was 12, is having it's annual Rock-A-Thon on Nov. 1.

The money raised by Rockin' 4 Relief goes to a charity called Backstoppers. It is an organization in the St. Louis area that provides assistance to families of firefighters, police officers and Emergency Medical Services personnel who die in the line of duty.

"Every year we send teenagers out to different Dierbergs locations, which is a grocery chain in St. Louis, and it's also in Illinois," Rubin said. "And we send teenagers out and everyone rocks in a rocking chair for 10 hours and they just collect money from the people who walk by. We started in 2009 and over the past five years we've raised over $70,000, that's including the $13,000 donation from Oprah [Winfrey]. The first year we weren't at the grocery store yet, we rocked at a gym, and quickly realized that no one brings money to a gym. So we raised like $750 and thought it was the coolest thing ever, and then five years later we've completely raised a ton more than that. So now we're up to $70,000."

Southeast student Peyton Mogley has helped out with Rockin' 4 Relief for three years now.

"[She started it when she was] like 12. That's incredible," Mogley said. "There's so many locations and every year she's able to expand. I really think it's a great project. It's unlike anything else I've ever heard of or been a part of because, like, Girl Scouts sell their cookies and Boy Scouts sell their popcorn, but we're actually going out there and raising awareness for this wonderful organization and this cause. I think it's awesome."

Al Spencer, reserve officer with the Cape County Sheriff's office and adjunct instructor for the Law Enforcement Academy at Southeast and Southeast alumnus, has also helped out for several years now.

"I met Jennifer through D.A.R.E., Drug Awareness Resistance Education, when she was a junior in high school," Spencer said. "She was our D.A.R.E. youth representative, and I sit on the board as a liaison between the national and state D.A.R.E. and that's how we, or a few of the officers I should say, got involved with Rockin 4 Relief. What I did, or what I do is last year we went around and we checked on every location. One officer had a group of locations, another officer had a group of locations because I think there was 22 locations last year and we just check up to make sure that they don't need anything and everything's running smooth. Last year I took money from one location and transferred it to the main location, stuff like that."

Rubin has been involved with Rockin' 4 Relief since a very young age.

"When I was 10, I went through the D.A.R.E. program and my D.A.R.E. officer was just an incredible person," Rubin said. "He's very enthusiastic and he just loved being with us. And so after D.A.R.E. was over, he asked me to volunteer for some different community events with the Chesterfield police department, and I started working with them, I started meeting a lot more officers. I got to work closely with him, and at 12 years old, I just realized that police officers put their bullet-proof vests on every day for a reason and they put their gun on for a reason every day, and it's like it kind of started to register that it was dangerous, and so I wanted to do something to give back to them because they give to us everyday."

Through the organization, Rubin has had the chance to work with celebrities like Tim Ezel, a retired reporter for Fox2News in St. Louis and Lou Brock, along with other current and former members of the St. Louis Cardinals. Even Oprah Winfrey donated $13,000. Rubin sends out a tweet every year saying how old she is, how much they've raised and asks people to forward it so that others can see it and possibly donate to the cause.

"At the time, it [my tweet] said 'I'm 15 and I've raised $12,000,' so she [Oprah] said she was going to match the $12,000 that we raised and add $1,000 to get us to our $25,000 mark," Rubin said. "Her marketing manager called the next day and we worked everything out. Sure enough, about a month later, we received a check in the mail and a note and all that, so that's pretty exciting."

In past years, Rubin has been one of the rockers, but this year she's taking on more of a supervisor position. In past years, Rubin would rock in her chair at the main location. At 6 p.m., all of the other rockers would stand up, count their money and bring it to the main location. At 7 p.m., Rubin would stand up and have the street lined up with police cars and fire trucks and they would all flash their lights and sound their sirens. This year, her, Spencer and another officer are going to drive around to all the locations so they can check on how they are doing and if they need anything.

"My job actually is drastically changing this year," Rubin said. "So we try to keep the rocking position open to middle schoolers and high schoolers because we want to, other than the fact that we're giving money to the families of these heroes, we want to show these teenagers that you can make a difference no matter how old you are."

"I've never been able to see anyone else's location because I'm obviously at mine all day, so it'll be neat to see how others have it set up, how others are running it, we can kind of give them tips, which will hopefully help them bring in more money, so I'm looking forward to it, but it's going to be different not sitting in the chair all day," Rubin said.

This year, Rockin' 4 Relief has spread to Kansas City, possibly adding four more locations. They have 18 locations at the moment, but with more volunteers, they could cover the 24 Dierbergs stores.

For the volunteers, it's not just about raising money.

"Honestly, I think it's just humbling to know that you're helping," Mogley said. "I think that's why I do a lot of things. Just to know that you're giving back and I'm helping a really good friend of mine."

Spencer has his own reasons for why he loves helping out at Rockin' 4 Relief.

"I love working around kids. It is a blast," Spencer said. "That and getting out and talking to the public, that's the favorite part. Letting them know what we're doing, who's it for. A lot of people see cops one way, but we're still human, and this kind of gives us a human side, you know, of what we're doing."

For information on how to volunteer or to donate, contact Jennifer Rubin at rockin4relief@hotmail.com.