ATLANTIC CITY – The John R. Elliott HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers will kick off its 2019 “Summer of HEROES” drunk driving prevention initiative Friday, May 24 on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. Hosted by the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, Steel Pier and Resorts Casino Hotel, the event will include a HEROtini® mocktail tasting from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., followed by a news conference with city officials to announce the launch of the campaign’s new Holiday HEROES Safe Ride Program.
The 2019 HEROtini® Challenge will be a summer-long competition between 30 Atlantic City area casinos, bars, taverns and restaurants to find the area’s best mocktail. The public will decide the winner by donating to vote on the HERO Campaign website. The establishment with the most donations will win the coveted HEROtini® Cup.
Donations collected from the mocktail competition will fund the campaign’s new Holiday HEROES Safe Ride Program, which will provide free and discounted rides home for patrons of participating HERO Campaign bars and taverns over the Thanksgiving to New Year holidays. With the program, the HERO Campaign aims to designate the greater Atlantic City area as New Jersey’s first “DUI-free” safe ride city.
“Bartenders at area bars and restaurants will be creating unique and memorable non-alcoholic HEROtini® mocktails to promote safe driving in our communities,” HERO Campaign co-founder Bill Elliott said. “Through contributions by voters, the competition will fund our new HERO Safe Ride Program to provide free and discounted rides home from participating HEROtini® establishments over the holidays.”
The HERO Campaign is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the use of safe and sober designated drivers to prevent drunk driving tragedies in memory of Navy Ensign John R. Elliott of Egg Harbor Township, who was killed in a collision with a drunk driver in July 2000.
The campaign is now saving lives in seven states in partnership with law enforcement,, schools and colleges, federal and state highway safety organizations, the licensed beverage industry, and professional sports teams including the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Football Giants, the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution. Also at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, and Keeneland Race Course, home of the 2015 Breeder’s Cup.
Since its inception in 2000, the HERO Campaign has helped to reduce alcohol-related fatalities and incidents, including a 35 percent reduction in DUI fatalities in New Jersey and other states over the past decade
For more information about the 2019 HEROtini® Challenge, visit HeroCampaign.org/Herotini.
To learn more about the “Summer of HEROES” kickoff, contact Glenn Davila at gdavila@callpm.com, or Bill Elliott at belliott@herocampaign.org or 609- 332-2588.
For more information about the HERO Campaign, visit www.HeroCampaign.org.
