Businesses Honor Fallen RTD Officer With 'Day Of Love' On Valentine's Day

DENVER (CBS4) - This Valentine's Day will be something special at Denver's Union Station.

"It's a great thing all the businesses here are doing,' restaurant patron Missy Bolster told CBS4's Tom Mustin.

Dan Skvarca owns Mercantile restaurant. On Tuesday he and several other neighborhood establishments will participate in a Day of Love. Merchants will donate 10 percent of all sales to fallen RTD security officer Scott Von Lanken.

"We wanted to kind of show some solidarity with the security team and also some respect to Scott for what he did for us down here," said Skvarca.

Von Lanken was a former pastor, and a father of two. He was shot and killed last month while on duty downtown.

Skvarca came up with the idea for the Valentine's Day fundraiser, and pitched the idea to his fellow business owners at Union Station. Virtually every restaurant and retail outlet signed on immediately.

"We have the RTD officers. They come join us almost every day. We heard about the tragedy and wanted to basically get involved and help out," said Chris Massey with the Hopdoddy Burger Bar.

Bolter already has her reservation in place.

"I think it's great. It's great to help out the family. I understand he had some disabled daughters and he was working like three jobs. I think it's awesome," she said.

It's a Valentine's tribute to a special man who gave his life in the line of duty.

"This world needs a little more good. Everybody kind of recognized that with their contribution," said Skvarca.

Along with the shops and restaurants inside Union Station, IMA Financial Group, Alpine Bank and the DaVita Corp. have also pledged several thousand dollars.

Additional Resources

For more information on the Day of Love, log on to unionstationdenver.com.