From Kim Minugh:
The Sacramento Rotary Club honored four Sacramento police officers and their sergeant this morning for their generosity in fundraising for a struggling local family.
The "Above & Beyond" award comes with a $1,000 donation to a charity of the recipient's choice. The officers have chosen to donate the money to college funds for the family's two little girls, who lost their mother in March, said police spokeswoman Officer Laura Peck.
The recognized officers were called to the family's one-bedroom apartment on St. Patrick's Day, after the 32-year-old mother collapsed in the kitchen. Dispatchers misunderstood the caller -- a 9-year-old girl - and thought she said the woman had shot herself. The girl actually thought her mom had shocked herself.
They arrived to find the father performing CPR on his wife. She was pronounced dead at the hospital. It appears her death was related to a medical condition.
She left behind her husband, who recently had been laid off from his job as a convenience store clerk; and two daughters, a 9-year-old (who recently turned 10) and a 7-month-old.
Officers were touched by the spirit of the then-9-year-old, who they said spent the day worrying about her other family members and also the officers at the scene. She reportedly apologized to the officers that they had to watch her mother die, and thanked them for trying to help her family.
Overcome by emotion, the officers began a fund-raising effort that quickly spread across the Police Department and included friends and family as well. For the older girl's 10th birthday party - held on Easter Sunday - the officers showed up to deliver $3,700 in cash to the father, bicycles and helmets for him and his older daughter, and other gifts, including school supplies, baby clothes and Target gift cards.
The little girl introduced the officers to her family as "(her) friends."
Recognized were Officers Sunny Cranford, Helen Mortlock, Jason Nollette and Victor Wolfe, and Sgt. Glen Faulkner.
For an earlier The Bee story on this, click here.
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