By Halston Media
Published November 14, 2023 at 9:26 PMMAHOPAC, N.Y. --
Westchester B.L.U.E. Chairman Matt Frank presented Mahopac’s Marianne Chaluisan with the organization’s Civilian Support Award on Nov. 3, at the Surf Club on the Sound restaurant in New Rochelle.
Chaluisan was lauded for her volunteer work and the support she has given to local police agencies over the years.
“Emotional support is a big thing for us,” Frank said. “[This award is for] everything she’s done over the years. She is not in law enforcement but cares about the community and the first responders who are out there with so much on the line every day. She always wants to help them and show them they are not alone, and they are appreciated and respected.”
The Westchester B.L.U.E. Foundation was incorporated in 2011 and raises money to facilitate resources for police officers and their families and aids those who suffer from emotional, physical, and financial difficulties.
Published November 14, 2023 at 9:26 PMMAHOPAC, N.Y. --
Westchester B.L.U.E. Chairman Matt Frank presented Mahopac’s Marianne Chaluisan with the organization’s Civilian Support Award on Nov. 3, at the Surf Club on the Sound restaurant in New Rochelle.
Chaluisan was lauded for her volunteer work and the support she has given to local police agencies over the years.
“Emotional support is a big thing for us,” Frank said. “[This award is for] everything she’s done over the years. She is not in law enforcement but cares about the community and the first responders who are out there with so much on the line every day. She always wants to help them and show them they are not alone, and they are appreciated and respected.”
The Westchester B.L.U.E. Foundation was incorporated in 2011 and raises money to facilitate resources for police officers and their families and aids those who suffer from emotional, physical, and financial difficulties.
Colleagues Offer Support to Grieving Officers
After losing one of their own, Peekskill officers face most difficult assignment: Healing
Peekskill Police Chaplain Robert Lindenberg, left, with officers on the day of Jones’ funeral. Photo from Peekskill Police Department Instagram Page. (peekskillpolice1)
By Regina Clarkin
December 9, 2022
The sobering statistic that more police officers die by their own hands than at the hands of offenders became personal last month with the suicide of veteran Peekskill Officer Greg Jones. And while there’s been tremendous advances around the subject of emotional wellness of police officers in the past 20 years, there’s an increased need for awareness from co-workers and family members, said two professionals working with the Peekskill Police Department in the tragedy’s aftermath. Officer Jones, a 24-year veteran of the force died on November 24th. As a school resource officer, a DARE officer and a member of the community policing unit, he was well known and loved in Peekskill schools and in the larger community.
By Regina Clarkin
December 9, 2022
The sobering statistic that more police officers die by their own hands than at the hands of offenders became personal last month with the suicide of veteran Peekskill Officer Greg Jones. And while there’s been tremendous advances around the subject of emotional wellness of police officers in the past 20 years, there’s an increased need for awareness from co-workers and family members, said two professionals working with the Peekskill Police Department in the tragedy’s aftermath. Officer Jones, a 24-year veteran of the force died on November 24th. As a school resource officer, a DARE officer and a member of the community policing unit, he was well known and loved in Peekskill schools and in the larger community.
Peekskill Police Officer Greg Jones on the back of a fire truck. He spent a lot of time with the fire department working on emergency scenes and during community events so he was an ‘honorary’ Peekskill Fire Department Local 2343 member. Photo from Peekskill Police Department Instagram page.
Matthew Frank, co-founder of Westchester B.L.U.E, (Brothers in Law Enforcement Uniting Efforts), came to Peekskill’s American Legion Hall two days after Jones’ death to meet with the fallen officer’s co-workers who were stunned by his death. Frank was joined by members of the Westchester Putnam Peer Support Team and officers of the Peekskill police union. About 30 members of the police department gathered to learn information around Officer Jones’ death and process the devastating news.
“Just the fact that you had that many of the department come out, and that they’re willing to have conversations and willing to support each other with the Westchester Putnam Peer Support team, says a lot,” explained Frank. “They were on a fact finding mission about the details.” There are 37 uniformed patrol officers currently on the Peekskill force in addition to three lieutenants, seven sergeants and five detectives.
“I wish I had the words that make everybody feel better,” said Frank. “The answers don’t exist. We try to find an answer for something that has no answer,” added Frank about a suicide of an officer. He noted that in 2022 there have been 139 deaths of officers nationally due to suicide – nearly as many as the 200 line-of-duty deaths that have occurred as a result of various incidents including traffic accidents, heart attacks, slip and falls, health issues connected to Covid. Statistically, fewer deaths of officers occur due to stabbings and shootings than from suicide.
In the week since this reporter spoke to Frank for this story, another 21 US police officers took their own lives.
“These are alarming numbers,” said Frank, noting that there is something about the line of work and the need for management of stress. “The police community has done a tremendous job in realizing the need to be proactive instead of reactive,” around the issue of officer wellness, he added.
While Frank and the Westchester Peer Support Group were meeting with officers at the McKinley Street American Legion Hall, Robert Lindenberg, Peekskill’s Police Chaplain, was at the station with officers who were on duty that day.
“As soon as I got the call, I got in my car and drove to the police station and was present for every roll call,” said Lindenberg, who completed a training last month offered through the Department of Justice on officer wellness with Peekskill police Sgt. Alex DeMundo and Officer Pam Sgroi.
Lindenberg, who is the pastor of The PEAK Community Church, has been trained by the International Conference of Police Chaplains in the specialized area of critical incident and crisis response. At midnight, 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. roll calls for the week after Jones’ death, Lindenberg was present where he did a ‘check up from the neck up’, looking officers in the eye and asking how they’re doing. At those roll calls in the muster room he made resource material available for officers regarding help managing stress and trauma.
As part of his unpaid work with the police department, he offers a ‘ministry of presence’ by going out on ‘ride alongs’ with officers. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” said Lindenberg about building relationships with officers during the six years he’s been chaplain to the department.
“In the last 20 years there’s been a lot of information and knowledge about best practices, and departments have gotten real with a lot of the training and certification,” relating to stress management for officers, said Lindenberg. “Now we’re getting smarter; people aren’t afraid to talk about officer resiliency,” said Frank of Westchester B.L.U.E. who explained that the foundation offers emotional support.
“We aren’t therapists, but we have treatment places and specialists we work with and give referrals to officers.” According to Frank, the people who volunteer with Westchester B.L.U.E are former law enforcement officers who have ‘been there and done that’ and understand the challenges officers face. They work with families of officers, extending services such as mowing lawns, doing grocery runs and being a presence when a family is going through trauma.
Matthew Frank, co-founder of Westchester B.L.U.E, (Brothers in Law Enforcement Uniting Efforts), came to Peekskill’s American Legion Hall two days after Jones’ death to meet with the fallen officer’s co-workers who were stunned by his death. Frank was joined by members of the Westchester Putnam Peer Support Team and officers of the Peekskill police union. About 30 members of the police department gathered to learn information around Officer Jones’ death and process the devastating news.
“Just the fact that you had that many of the department come out, and that they’re willing to have conversations and willing to support each other with the Westchester Putnam Peer Support team, says a lot,” explained Frank. “They were on a fact finding mission about the details.” There are 37 uniformed patrol officers currently on the Peekskill force in addition to three lieutenants, seven sergeants and five detectives.
“I wish I had the words that make everybody feel better,” said Frank. “The answers don’t exist. We try to find an answer for something that has no answer,” added Frank about a suicide of an officer. He noted that in 2022 there have been 139 deaths of officers nationally due to suicide – nearly as many as the 200 line-of-duty deaths that have occurred as a result of various incidents including traffic accidents, heart attacks, slip and falls, health issues connected to Covid. Statistically, fewer deaths of officers occur due to stabbings and shootings than from suicide.
In the week since this reporter spoke to Frank for this story, another 21 US police officers took their own lives.
“These are alarming numbers,” said Frank, noting that there is something about the line of work and the need for management of stress. “The police community has done a tremendous job in realizing the need to be proactive instead of reactive,” around the issue of officer wellness, he added.
While Frank and the Westchester Peer Support Group were meeting with officers at the McKinley Street American Legion Hall, Robert Lindenberg, Peekskill’s Police Chaplain, was at the station with officers who were on duty that day.
“As soon as I got the call, I got in my car and drove to the police station and was present for every roll call,” said Lindenberg, who completed a training last month offered through the Department of Justice on officer wellness with Peekskill police Sgt. Alex DeMundo and Officer Pam Sgroi.
Lindenberg, who is the pastor of The PEAK Community Church, has been trained by the International Conference of Police Chaplains in the specialized area of critical incident and crisis response. At midnight, 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. roll calls for the week after Jones’ death, Lindenberg was present where he did a ‘check up from the neck up’, looking officers in the eye and asking how they’re doing. At those roll calls in the muster room he made resource material available for officers regarding help managing stress and trauma.
As part of his unpaid work with the police department, he offers a ‘ministry of presence’ by going out on ‘ride alongs’ with officers. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” said Lindenberg about building relationships with officers during the six years he’s been chaplain to the department.
“In the last 20 years there’s been a lot of information and knowledge about best practices, and departments have gotten real with a lot of the training and certification,” relating to stress management for officers, said Lindenberg. “Now we’re getting smarter; people aren’t afraid to talk about officer resiliency,” said Frank of Westchester B.L.U.E. who explained that the foundation offers emotional support.
“We aren’t therapists, but we have treatment places and specialists we work with and give referrals to officers.” According to Frank, the people who volunteer with Westchester B.L.U.E are former law enforcement officers who have ‘been there and done that’ and understand the challenges officers face. They work with families of officers, extending services such as mowing lawns, doing grocery runs and being a presence when a family is going through trauma.
Westchester B.L.U.E. co-founder Matt Frank speaking to the Westchester County Detective Association.
“My wife is an understanding person, but she’s not able to really understand what I’ve gone through because she’s not lived through my experiences,” said Frank, who was shot in the line of duty in Mt. Vernon in 2006. “The things that helped me heal after that incident gave me a unique insight into how people may feel,” he explained, adding that the Foundation is there to offer a shoulder for officers to lean on and provide support for families.
In 2020, a 16-hour course on officer wellness was added as a mandatory part of the curriculum at Westchester’s Police Academy in Valhalla. Members of Westchester B.L.U.E. teach the course that is given at the end of the semester before candidates graduate. This year, for the first time, there was a program offered on the evening before graduation for the families of the candidates. At that course, Westchester B.L.U.E. instructors spelled out what to look for regarding stresses in their family members who are police officers. “They can be part of the support system, they see the change before others see it,” said Frank. Family members get the same information given to police officers about what resources are available to cope with stress related to the job.
Eric Johansen, who used the book “Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement, A Guide for Officers and their Families” by Kevin Gilmartin, for members of the force when he was Peekskill’s chief from 2013 to 2018, said in small departments like Peekskill, officers see everything. “It’s not like New York City, where there’s a division for homicides, missing persons and burglaries. In a department the size of Peekskill, in a 20-year-career, you see all kinds of deaths and injuries.”
“My wife is an understanding person, but she’s not able to really understand what I’ve gone through because she’s not lived through my experiences,” said Frank, who was shot in the line of duty in Mt. Vernon in 2006. “The things that helped me heal after that incident gave me a unique insight into how people may feel,” he explained, adding that the Foundation is there to offer a shoulder for officers to lean on and provide support for families.
In 2020, a 16-hour course on officer wellness was added as a mandatory part of the curriculum at Westchester’s Police Academy in Valhalla. Members of Westchester B.L.U.E. teach the course that is given at the end of the semester before candidates graduate. This year, for the first time, there was a program offered on the evening before graduation for the families of the candidates. At that course, Westchester B.L.U.E. instructors spelled out what to look for regarding stresses in their family members who are police officers. “They can be part of the support system, they see the change before others see it,” said Frank. Family members get the same information given to police officers about what resources are available to cope with stress related to the job.
Eric Johansen, who used the book “Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement, A Guide for Officers and their Families” by Kevin Gilmartin, for members of the force when he was Peekskill’s chief from 2013 to 2018, said in small departments like Peekskill, officers see everything. “It’s not like New York City, where there’s a division for homicides, missing persons and burglaries. In a department the size of Peekskill, in a 20-year-career, you see all kinds of deaths and injuries.”
“If you want to make it through to retirement, wear your vest, wait for your backup and read Gilmartin’s book” says the blurb on this essential reading.
Troubling incidents can be over, but they never go away and they can tear away at you, said Johansen, recalling details around the first time he investigated a murder and had to track down the next-of-kin to notify them. “And add to it that Peekskill is a small community – and it becomes very personal,” he said. “It’s not like 30 years ago, when police were looked at as the people who don’t break and felt the pressure to put up a facade. We bleed red, we cry the same tears,” he observed.
Jones and Johansen were colleagues on Peekskill’s tight-knit force for two decades. Recalling Jones: “He was a solid, honest, caring person who could bring a smile to your face. He was a great ambassador for the police department. We’ve lost a real friend. And because of his involvement in the schools, it’s like the kids have lost a teacher,” observed Johansen.
“Jonzee was a great chameleon,” said Chaplain Lindenberg, who explained that oftentimes when officers are experiencing turbulence in their lives they don’t let on the full details of what’s happening with them.
“Here’s what we know to be true about Greg,” said Lindenberg. “He found his happiness, his fulfillment and his sense of purpose at work.” That was echoed by his mother, Joanne Jones, in her Facebook comment to the Herald’s story about the candlelight vigil held in his memory. “He loved the people of Peekskill so much…you were like family to him. He loved working in Peekskill and often told me it was his happy place. …Thank you Peekskill for bringing so much joy and happiness to his life.”
Now the hard work of healing in the wake of his death begins, said Lindenberg.
“We have to go over the top in creating something powerful that will be substantial and live on, something born out of Greg’s death,” said Lindenberg. “It could be a revamped officers gym named for him, it could be a crisis hotline, but it has to be substantial, something positive to honor his legacy.”
Troubling incidents can be over, but they never go away and they can tear away at you, said Johansen, recalling details around the first time he investigated a murder and had to track down the next-of-kin to notify them. “And add to it that Peekskill is a small community – and it becomes very personal,” he said. “It’s not like 30 years ago, when police were looked at as the people who don’t break and felt the pressure to put up a facade. We bleed red, we cry the same tears,” he observed.
Jones and Johansen were colleagues on Peekskill’s tight-knit force for two decades. Recalling Jones: “He was a solid, honest, caring person who could bring a smile to your face. He was a great ambassador for the police department. We’ve lost a real friend. And because of his involvement in the schools, it’s like the kids have lost a teacher,” observed Johansen.
“Jonzee was a great chameleon,” said Chaplain Lindenberg, who explained that oftentimes when officers are experiencing turbulence in their lives they don’t let on the full details of what’s happening with them.
“Here’s what we know to be true about Greg,” said Lindenberg. “He found his happiness, his fulfillment and his sense of purpose at work.” That was echoed by his mother, Joanne Jones, in her Facebook comment to the Herald’s story about the candlelight vigil held in his memory. “He loved the people of Peekskill so much…you were like family to him. He loved working in Peekskill and often told me it was his happy place. …Thank you Peekskill for bringing so much joy and happiness to his life.”
Now the hard work of healing in the wake of his death begins, said Lindenberg.
“We have to go over the top in creating something powerful that will be substantial and live on, something born out of Greg’s death,” said Lindenberg. “It could be a revamped officers gym named for him, it could be a crisis hotline, but it has to be substantial, something positive to honor his legacy.”
Westchester cops, contractors, rally to renovate ex-cop's home
Jordan Fenster, Rockland/Westchester Journal News Published 6:00 a.m. ET Nov. 15, 2018 | Updated 1:12 p.m. ET Nov.
Jordan Fenster, Rockland/Westchester Journal News Published 6:00 a.m. ET Nov. 15, 2018 | Updated 1:12 p.m. ET Nov.
Westchester BLUE Foundation board chairman Matt Frank talks about how the origins of the organization.
CORTLANDT - Raise your hand if you know about Friedreich ataxia.
Jeff Golanec does. He can talk about it like a biologist: the gene mutation, the effect on proteins, the nervous-system degradation, the symptoms, the progression.
A career police officer serving in several Westchester County departments over the years, Golanec began to learn everything there is to know about the rare, progressive form of muscular dystrophy when his daughter Kaela contracted the disease.
“Unfortunately, when you’re told that what you thought was a healthy 7-year-old daughter now has this progressive neuro-muscular disease, it kind of turns your life upside down,” Golanec said. “Especially when the doctor tells you there’s no treatment, no care, no medicine.”
It started off slowly. Kaela would trip and fall maybe a little more than the other kids. Always an active child, her parents thought she was going through a clumsy phase.
Then she had a yearly physical and the doctor found reduced reflexes in her arms and legs.
“He asked her to close her eyes and try to stand,” Golanec said. “She couldn’t stand without falling over.”
Ten years later, Kaela is a senior at Walter Panas High School and the disease has progressed. With Kaela confined to a wheelchair, the Golanecs found themselves with a problem they never thought they’d face: How to make their home handicapped accessible.
Jeff Golanec does. He can talk about it like a biologist: the gene mutation, the effect on proteins, the nervous-system degradation, the symptoms, the progression.
A career police officer serving in several Westchester County departments over the years, Golanec began to learn everything there is to know about the rare, progressive form of muscular dystrophy when his daughter Kaela contracted the disease.
“Unfortunately, when you’re told that what you thought was a healthy 7-year-old daughter now has this progressive neuro-muscular disease, it kind of turns your life upside down,” Golanec said. “Especially when the doctor tells you there’s no treatment, no care, no medicine.”
It started off slowly. Kaela would trip and fall maybe a little more than the other kids. Always an active child, her parents thought she was going through a clumsy phase.
Then she had a yearly physical and the doctor found reduced reflexes in her arms and legs.
“He asked her to close her eyes and try to stand,” Golanec said. “She couldn’t stand without falling over.”
Ten years later, Kaela is a senior at Walter Panas High School and the disease has progressed. With Kaela confined to a wheelchair, the Golanecs found themselves with a problem they never thought they’d face: How to make their home handicapped accessible.
One in 50,000
Matt Frank got involved because, like Golanec, he was forced to end his career as a police officer when he was injured on the job.
Frank, a former Mount Vernon detective, co-founded and runs the Westchester BLUE Foundation, which works to provide injured police officers and their families the resources they need when they need them.
When it comes to the Golanecs, for Frank, the rarity of Friedreich ataxia is what’s important. The family, he said, is dealing with a disease that nobody’s heard of.
“The first time I met her she was just a little girl,” Frank said. “As a parent, it just rips your heart out.
“The important thing is (that) this illness gets some recognition,” he said.
Friedreich ataxia is rare, affecting about one in every 50,000 people. According to the National Institutes for Health, the disease causes nerve fibers in the spinal cord and peripheral nerves to degenerate. Symptoms start with motor coordination, with victims eventually confined to a wheelchair and ultimately completely immobile.
Golanec knows this means he’ll be taking care of his daughter long term. But the first step was getting the house able to accommodate Kaela’s needs.
Matt Frank got involved because, like Golanec, he was forced to end his career as a police officer when he was injured on the job.
Frank, a former Mount Vernon detective, co-founded and runs the Westchester BLUE Foundation, which works to provide injured police officers and their families the resources they need when they need them.
When it comes to the Golanecs, for Frank, the rarity of Friedreich ataxia is what’s important. The family, he said, is dealing with a disease that nobody’s heard of.
“The first time I met her she was just a little girl,” Frank said. “As a parent, it just rips your heart out.
“The important thing is (that) this illness gets some recognition,” he said.
Friedreich ataxia is rare, affecting about one in every 50,000 people. According to the National Institutes for Health, the disease causes nerve fibers in the spinal cord and peripheral nerves to degenerate. Symptoms start with motor coordination, with victims eventually confined to a wheelchair and ultimately completely immobile.
Golanec knows this means he’ll be taking care of his daughter long term. But the first step was getting the house able to accommodate Kaela’s needs.
A group effort
That, Frank said, is exactly within the foundation’s mission.
“For us, this project was a no-brainer," he said. "For years, when the citizens of this county were in need, Jeff answered that call. Now Jeff is the one calling, and it's only right that we now answer his call.”
Frank and his colleagues reached out to contractors and builders, plumbers and code-enforcement officials — 10 of them in all — and all agreed to renovate the Golanecs’ bathroom, for free.
“As soon as I heard about this I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to be involved,” said Carlo Renda from Salamone Improvements in New Rochelle. “I told him I would do whatever it takes.”
The town of Cortlandt waived all the permit fees.
“I have the authority to say ‘yes’ to these requests and, if it's reasonable, I always do,” said town Supervisor Linda Puglisi. “Of course we said yes.”
Golanec said the charity was difficult to accept, calling it “humbling.”
“As cops, you’re always running toward people to help, whether it’s a car accident or a robbery, whatever the case may be,” he said. “To reverse that and reach out to people and ask people for help — it’s an unfortunate thing that cops don’t reach out.”
But Golanec knows the work, which began this week, couldn’t have happened without the help.
“Without the BLUE Foundation it wouldn’t be possible, financially,” he said. “It’s a huge weight that has been lifted off our shoulders.”
That, Frank said, is exactly within the foundation’s mission.
“For us, this project was a no-brainer," he said. "For years, when the citizens of this county were in need, Jeff answered that call. Now Jeff is the one calling, and it's only right that we now answer his call.”
Frank and his colleagues reached out to contractors and builders, plumbers and code-enforcement officials — 10 of them in all — and all agreed to renovate the Golanecs’ bathroom, for free.
“As soon as I heard about this I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to be involved,” said Carlo Renda from Salamone Improvements in New Rochelle. “I told him I would do whatever it takes.”
The town of Cortlandt waived all the permit fees.
“I have the authority to say ‘yes’ to these requests and, if it's reasonable, I always do,” said town Supervisor Linda Puglisi. “Of course we said yes.”
Golanec said the charity was difficult to accept, calling it “humbling.”
“As cops, you’re always running toward people to help, whether it’s a car accident or a robbery, whatever the case may be,” he said. “To reverse that and reach out to people and ask people for help — it’s an unfortunate thing that cops don’t reach out.”
But Golanec knows the work, which began this week, couldn’t have happened without the help.
“Without the BLUE Foundation it wouldn’t be possible, financially,” he said. “It’s a huge weight that has been lifted off our shoulders.”
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Deniz Ozkurt of Tancora Electric works on Jeff Golanec's Cortlandt home. Contractors and others donated labor and materials to make the Golanecs' home handicapped accessible for their 17-year-old daughter, Kaela. (Photo: Submitted)
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Workers from Salamone Construction work on Jeff Golanec's home. Contractors and others donated labor and materials to make the Golanecs' home handicapped accessible for their 17-year-old daughter, Kaela. (Photo: Submitted)
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CLICK BELOW TO HEAR THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW
NOVEMBER 14, 2015 - 2ND ANNUAL CHARITY DINNER
LAKE ISLE COUNTRY CLUB, EASTCHESTER, NY
OCTOBER 4, 2015 - AFSP SUICIDE PREVENTION WALK
Click on the link below to see video
http://archive.lohud.com/videonetwork/2878638573001/Police-officers-band-together-to-support-their-own
http://archive.lohud.com/videonetwork/2878638573001/Police-officers-band-together-to-support-their-own
MARCH 27, 2015, 10-13 FOR ELMSFORD OFFICER KEN GUMBS
FEBRUARY 23-27, 2015 - CRISIS INTERVENTION & STRESS MANAGEMENT CLASS NY STATE POLICE ACADEMY, ALBANY, NY
Members of the Foundation finishing a week long training at the NYSP Academy. Peer Support training give by NYS DCJS.
OCTOBER 5, 2014 - A.F.S.P. SUICIDE PREVENTION WALK
AUGUST 16, 2014 - CIGAR NIGHT AT CENTRAL CIGAR LOUNGE ON CENTRAL AVE. IN YONKERS
APRIL 25, 2014 - EMPIRE HARLEY-DAVIDSON PRESENTS BOARD WITH DONATION AFTER THEY HOSTED
1ST ANNUAL "BLUE RIDE"
1st ANNUAL B.L.U.E. RIDE - APRIL, 2014 - EMPIRE HARLEY NEW ROCHELLE, NY
Sunday, December 15, 2013 - 10-13 for Westchester County PD Detective John Parker
Ron Black's Beer Hall, White Plains, NY
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2013 - 10-13 FOR SGT. JOSEPH ANDREANI
DUNWOODIE GOLF COURSE IN YONKERS, NY
DUNWOODIE GOLF COURSE IN YONKERS, NY
AUGUST 4, 2013 - 10-13 FUNDRAISER FOR SGT. VINCENT STUFANO
DUNWOODIE GOLF COURSE, YONKERS, NY
DUNWOODIE GOLF COURSE, YONKERS, NY
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Matt Frank, president of the Westchester B.L.U.E. Foundation, takes a throw at a dunk tank during a fundraiser for Mount Vernon police officer Sgt. Vinny Stufano, whose son Nate was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma, at the Dunwoodie Golf Club in Yonkers on Aug. 4, 2013. ( Ricky Flores / The Journal News ) |
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Mount Vernon Chief of Detectives Ed Adinaro gets dropped into a dunk tank during a fundraiser for Mount Vernon police officer Sgt. Vinny Stufano, whose son Nate was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma, organized by the Westchester B.L.U.E. Foundation at the Dunwoodie Golf Club in Yonkers on Aug. 4, 2013. ( Ricky Flores / The Journal News ) |
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Ana Frank signs a poster at the Westchester B.L.U.E. Foundation fundraiser for Mount Vernon police officer Sgt. Vinny Stufano, whose son, Nate was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma, at the Dunwoodie Golf Club in Yonkers on Aug. 4, 2013. ( Ricky Flores / The Journal News ) |
Port Chester Auto Show Benefits Police Charity by Ryan Villarreal
Photo credit: Ryan Villarreal PORT CHESTER, N.Y. -- Former Mt. Vernon Police officer Matthew Frank was lying in a hospital bed after being shot in the line of duty in 2006 when his four-year-old son asked him why so many police officers were visiting, even ones that didn't know his father.
"I told him that's just what we do," said Frank. "We're there for each other. The look on his face when he understood that was just the greatest thing in the world and it gave me an idea."
Frank was forced to retire after 15 years of service following the shooting, but he has always remembered the support he was given by fellow police officers during that time and decided to start an organization to bring even more aid to police officers in need.
However, it's going to cost money.
Frank is putting on an auto show Sunday in Port Chester to help raise funds for the B.L.U.E. - Brothers in Law Enforcement Uniting Efforts - Foundation. The event will be held at the Marina parking lot on Abendroth Avenue with registration beginning at 9 a.m.
In addition to the auto show, there will be a police-escorted motorcycle ride from New Roc Harley-Davidson in New Rochelle to the Marina parking lot. There will also be an outdoor barbecue hosted at Churrascria Copacabana on Main Street.
Frank has put on similar events to raise money for the Shriners organization, of which he is a member along with the Freemasons. He attributes his involvement in both organizations, which have charitable affiliations, as another factor in starting the foundation.
Frank said he sees the B.L.U.E. Foundation as a support network for police officers who have been injured in service and their families.
"It can just be simple things like painting the house or making sure the family has access to transportation," he said.
Frank would also like to see emotional counseling for officers dealing with the stresses of the job.
"We want this organization to be proactive, not just reactive," said Frank.
"I told him that's just what we do," said Frank. "We're there for each other. The look on his face when he understood that was just the greatest thing in the world and it gave me an idea."
Frank was forced to retire after 15 years of service following the shooting, but he has always remembered the support he was given by fellow police officers during that time and decided to start an organization to bring even more aid to police officers in need.
However, it's going to cost money.
Frank is putting on an auto show Sunday in Port Chester to help raise funds for the B.L.U.E. - Brothers in Law Enforcement Uniting Efforts - Foundation. The event will be held at the Marina parking lot on Abendroth Avenue with registration beginning at 9 a.m.
In addition to the auto show, there will be a police-escorted motorcycle ride from New Roc Harley-Davidson in New Rochelle to the Marina parking lot. There will also be an outdoor barbecue hosted at Churrascria Copacabana on Main Street.
Frank has put on similar events to raise money for the Shriners organization, of which he is a member along with the Freemasons. He attributes his involvement in both organizations, which have charitable affiliations, as another factor in starting the foundation.
Frank said he sees the B.L.U.E. Foundation as a support network for police officers who have been injured in service and their families.
"It can just be simple things like painting the house or making sure the family has access to transportation," he said.
Frank would also like to see emotional counseling for officers dealing with the stresses of the job.
"We want this organization to be proactive, not just reactive," said Frank.