MOUNT OLIVE, Mississippi — Two law-enforcement officers living with the effects of line-of-duty gunshot wounds are receiving separate $3,000 recovery grants from Running 4 Heroes.
The nonprofit is awarding grants to Covington County Sheriff’s Deputy Yates Rodney and Mississippi Highway Patrol Lt. Trea Staples through its Injured First Responder Grant program, Darkhorse Press reported Friday morning.
Support for two officers’ continuing recovery
Rodney was critically wounded during a June 8 traffic-stop response near Mount Olive. The current local report says he has remained able to communicate with relatives and medical staff while continuing his recovery.
Staples was critically wounded while serving on a Mississippi Highway Patrol SWAT team in February 2016. The grant announcement says he continues to face physical, emotional and financial effects from those injuries.
ThinBlueNews is keeping the focus on the new support for both officers rather than repeating graphic medical detail. The current report does not describe the grants as compensation for every cost of recovery; it identifies them as direct assistance from the nonprofit’s injured-first-responder program.
Youth runner will deliver the grants
According to Darkhorse Press, an Illinois youth runner named Zachary will personally deliver both grants. Running 4 Heroes said donations from supporters around the country made the awards possible.
The organization said the latest grants bring its total assistance to injured first responders above $505,000. Its official website describes a mission of supporting first responders and honoring their sacrifice.
The deliveries provide a current reminder that recovery from a line-of-duty injury does not end when the immediate emergency is over. Community support can remain meaningful months or years later as officers and families manage lasting consequences.
Readers can find more stories about service and support in ThinBlueNews’ officer recognition, police hero stories and positive police news sections.
Sources and visual disclosure
- Darkhorse Press — “Stepping Up To Serve: Running 4 Heroes awards grants to wounded Mississippi law enforcement officers,” by Therese Apel, published Aug. 7, 2026. This is the source for the current grant amounts, recipients, delivery plan and recovery context.
- Running 4 Heroes official website. Reviewed for the organization’s stated mission and public contact identity.
Visual note: The source story credits its officer photographs to Running 4 Heroes. A public news or social-media appearance does not by itself establish republication rights, so ThinBlueNews did not copy those images. The featured image is an original, plainly labeled editorial graphic with no depiction of either officer or either shooting.
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