Maria Elena Baca; Staff Writer
December 30, 2000, Saturday, Metro Edition
Copyright 2000 Star Tribune
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
December 30, 2000, Saturday, Metro Edition
(EDINA, Minn.) -- The huge turnout at a benefit for injured Edina police officer Michael Blood on Friday night took his family and friends by surprise.
The dinner and auction began in Edina at 6 p.m. Organizers planned for 750, but ran out of food at 7:15. They ordered about 30 pizzas, which were gone by 8:30. And the place remained packed.
It didn’t start out to be a huge event. Officer Kevin Rofidal, an organizer, said the original idea was a spaghetti dinner in a school cafeteria for a few hundred colleagues.
“It grew into this because of the overwhelming response that we didn’t expect,” he said. “People are shocked that it happened here, and they need to come forward and do something.”
Edina Police Chief Michael Siitari said he thinks the $35-a-head event drew 800 people.
Blood, a 23-year veteran, was shot four times by a bank robber on Nov. 16. He had 29 working days left until retirement. He remains hospitalized and was unable to attend the party. His family hopes that he will return home in about a month and that he will walk again.
“Every intention is there,” Blood’s wife, Cheri, said Friday night. “It’s just a matter of getting the strength and learning how to adapt.”
He is talking to his family and seems to be improving.
“Now it’s to the point where each day he’s feeling a little better,” said his daughter, Allison. “Each day is just that much more uplifting to all of us.”
The indoor Edinborough Park on York Avenue S. was decked for the holidays. Volunteers slipped through the crowd with trays of appetizers. Guests perused tables holding more than 500 items donated for a silent auction, participated in a live auction of art and sports memorabilia, or bought tickets for a raffle that included, among other things, an Xpedition 325 all-terrain vehicle.
Cheri Blood continued to greet guests, waving and blowing kisses to people as she talked with a reporter.
“When I see this it just makes me very happy that the majority of people are loving and giving,” she said.
Officer Billie Moir received minor injuries when the robber shot at his patrol car. He scanned the crowd, which included many police and fire officials from around Minnesota.
When asked what he would tell Blood about the fund-raiser and the support people showed, he smiled. “He doesn’t need me to tell him,” he said. “I’m sure he can sense it.”
The Edina Independent Police Association presented Cheri Blood with a pendant that was a miniature replica of her husband’s badge, No. 115.
“The bottom of my heart is full to the brim,” she said. “Love your friends, love your family to the utmost, because by giving all the love it comes back tenfold. I would say it comes back hundredfold.”
People wanting to donate to Blood and his family should contact the Mike Blood Benefit, Edina Police Department, 4801 W. 50th St., Edina, MN 55424. Maria Elena Baca can be reached at mbaca@startribune.com