People march, businesses raise money for slain officers

Hundreds participated in a community glow walk in Desert Hot Springs Thursday night, while dozens of businesses in Palm Springs raised money for the families of two fallen officers.

The light of hundreds of small glow sticks illuminated people as they walked down Pierson Blvd in Desert Hot Springs. The march was a symbol of solidarity between the people of Desert Hot Springs and their police department.

This was another opportunity for families to remember fallen Palm Springs police officers Lesley Zerebny and Gil Vega, who were killed in the line of duty.

“My son-in-law is in law enforcement, so when I think about the two officers, that could have been my son-in-law, and I want people to know that we need to support our police department,” said Silver Geras, of Desert Hot Springs.

“This is a huge community effort, with what we are trying to do in the city with the police department,” said Dale Mondary, Chief of the Desert Hot Springs Police Department. “This is their little way of saying thank you after the tragedy in Palm Springs last week and it’s just very very touching.”

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Many of the businesses in downtown Palm Springs and some of the vendors for VillageFest are donating a portion of their proceeds on Thursday to the families of the fallen officers. NYPD Pizza is going to be donating 100 percent of their earnings.

“We lost two very good members of the community, and they both have children, and anything that has to do with children, we have a real soft spot for. It just means a lot to help,” said Amanda Hanna, manager of NYPD.

Main Street Palm Springs is planning on announcing the total amount of money raised on Monday.