Over the Edge
Rapellers were greeted with cheers as they made their way down the side of Hotel Arista.
Over the Edge is this year’s fundraiser for Operation Support Our Troops-America.
“What we did was go, ‘hey, do you want to go over the edge for our military and support them?’ So what we did is we asked everybody to raise about $1,000 if they could to help – kind of a GoFundMe type of thing where they would get their family and friends and co-workers to help them go over the edge to help support operation support our troops and it’s just been a great response for that,” said Bill Rickert, executive director of Operation Support Our Troops-America.
The Fundraiser
And the response really has been great.
Those who reached the $1,000 mark through campaigning helped the organization work its way to exceeding their overall goal.
By the end, they hope to raise around $200,000. The donations from the event will go toward services like their comfort and care program and veteran’s assistance program.
“I think taking the risk of going over the edge is what our military does everyday so we’re kind of symbolizing what they’ve done in terms of them taking the risk, we wanted to show them that we’re with them,” said Rickert.
Walking Down the Hotel
Around 75 people harnessed up and walked down the 140 feet of the Naperville hotel as onlookers on the ground peered up at them.
Many of them were excited to do something adventurous.
“It’s been over 20 years since I did something like that and the nerves are there for a little bit, but once you’re on the edge, you do the 90-degree, that’s kind of a little unnerving, but you get over it and you just continue to go,” said rapeller Raul Valladares.
Operation Support Our Troops-America plans on hosting the fundraiser again next year.
Naperville News 17’s Aysha Ashley Househ reports.
