Businesses Raised More Than $100,000 for DeRosier Family

Between fundraisers, walks and donation accounts, Cowlitz County businesses raised more than $100,000 over the last two weeks for the family of slain Cowlitz County sheriff's deputy Justin DeRosier.

Red Leaf alone raised more than $44,000 in total from donations and fundraising, general manager Ann Lucas said, including checks mailed in from Eugene and Tacoma. And Dutch Bros coffee raised more than $18,800 in a single day of donations and sales.

"We're overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from our community," Lucas said. "For something so tragic in our community, to have our community really come together, it's been amazing. Just to see what our community is capable of is awesome. We never dreamed it could be anything this big."

A Fibre Federal Credit Union donation account raised about $25,000, and donations from staff and the public brought in at least $18,500 to Red Canoe, chief marketing officer Amy Davis said.

Even small businesses raised impressive sums: Vault Books and Brew in Castle Rock raised $1,800 from cash donations and sales, owner Jennifer Engkraf said.

Some business are still tallying their numbers: The Longview Applebee's donated 10 percent of bills from participating patrons Tuesday and was calculating its final numbers Wednesday afternoon.

Those donations were among many other in-kind efforts from local businesses to honor the deputy. The Clean Machine auto detailing shop in Longview detailed DeRosier's patrol car, Copies Today in Kelso printed and distributed nearly 10,000 "Back the Blue" stickers in a single day, and Reprographics in Longview created 5,000 programs for services held for DeRosier locally and in Portland.

Reprographics owner Tom Gunn said it just felt like "the right thing to do," and said he couldn't believe the level of support the community showed.

"It seems, everyone was trying to do something to help, whether it was raising money or just acknowledging that we appreciated Justin and his service," Gunn said. "I think it was neat that our community stepped up to show that we appreciated him."