A blue wave rises to lift ill children
What's a tough-guy cop doing planting flowers with little kids, lifting them gently onto the back of a motorcycle, waving with them from a trolley in the St. Patrick's Day parade? His name is Bob Faherty and he's a retired superintendent in chief of the Boston Police Department, where he worked 40 years.
His favorite title nowadays is chairman of a nonprofit group, Cops for Kids with Cancer. The organization was founded in 2002 by John Dow, a retired Boston police commander who died of lung cancer in 2007. Its beginnings were modest: Every year, Boston cops would play in a golf tournament against their counterparts from Ireland. They'd alternate as hosts: one year here, one year there. (In September, the Garda Siochana officers will be playing at the LeBaron Hills Country Club in Lakeville.)
But today, several police departments have gotten into the act, throwing their own fund-raisers and giving the money to Cops for Kids with Cancer. Proceeds go to the pediatric oncology units at Massachusetts General Hospital and Tufts Medical Center's Floating Hospital for Children. The group also gives sti pends directly to families struggling with a sick child.
"The stories are terrible," says Faherty, who lives in Braintree. "Some families can't pay their mortgage." So Cops for Kids steps in and gives out $5,000 grants. Lieutenant Helena Findlen of the Canton Police Department is the group's president.
The fund-raising is truly a grass-roots effort. One Boston police captain raised pledge money by climbing to the Mount Everest base camp and, later, Mount Kilimanjaro. The Emerald Society of Boston - made up of officers of Irish origin - is putting on a road race. Kingston cops are holding a motorcycle rally, with each participant paying $20 to ride. The Canton Police Department played hockey against the Newton Police Department and raised $1,500. The Melrose Police Department held a Victorian fair. A couple of weeks ago, Cops for Kids held a fund-raiser at Florian Hall in Dorchester.
"We get $1,000 here, $2,000 there," says Faherty, 74. "I'd like to get $100,000 here, $200,000 there. But unless you have a well-known name, a movie star or athlete, it's very tough to raise money. We're just hustling all the time."
The group has no overhead save paper and stamps; board members meet monthly at space donated by Corcoran Real Estate in Braintree. Last year, they gave away a total of $66,000 to the two hospitals and a dozen families. This year, they've already raised and donated more than $60,000.
"We get money, we spend it," says Faherty.
The hospitals are to use the money directly for the children - for televisions, computers, outings, and the like. But it is the individual families that get to Faherty, whose eyes tear up when speaking of them. "It's terrible having a sick child and trying to pay the bills," he says. "There was the single mom with a son who had cancer. They were being evicted. The $5,000 gave her some leeway. Her son died within three months. We lost four kids last year."
One of them was Maddie Savoie of Norfolk. In 2006, she was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a cancer of the bone or soft tissue, and endured 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy and radiation. Maddie had a successful bone marrow transplant last August, but then her lungs failed. She was 10 years old when she died in October.
Maddie was a big fan of the police group; in fact, she was an active fund-raiser. "She sold lemonade in the driveway; she made jewelry and sold it for Cops for Kids," says her mother, Kristen. "She was very devoted to them."
The organization gave the family $5,000 while Maddie was ill. "It helped pay some of our expenses, and it was a godsend," says her mother.
The group also hosts activities for the children. Each St. Patrick's Day, Cops for Kids with Cancer has a trolley for the youngsters to ride on in the parade, waving to the crowd. They're invited to the motorcycle rallies, where they are helped up on the bikes. There are outings on the police boat that include a motorcycle escort from the hospitals to the wharf. Local police officers also visit homes or hospices, bringing with them police hats, badges, teddy bears, and T-shirts.
The group also approved money for a couple whose son had already died from cancer. There were three other children in the home. When Faherty presented the father with a $5,000 check, the man began to cry. "He owed $6,000 to the funeral home and he didn't know how he was going to pay it," says Faherty.
When a 10-year-old in Woburn with brain cancer died, his mother asked whether the organization would provide a police escort from the funeral home to the church because the boy had always wanted to be a cop. In the coffin, the family had placed all the police paraphernalia the group had given him.
"The stories," says Faherty, the grandfather of 10, "will break your heart."
On Wednesday, Cops for Kids with Cancer will be among 100 groups and individuals honored by Mass. General's Cancer Center for their contributions. Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and a breast-cancer survivor, is the keynote speaker.
Faherty could be spending his time in retirement with his own grandchildren - which is what he intended to do. And then he discovered other kids out there who also need him, and his wonderful organization.
For more information about the nonprofit charity, go to www.copsforkidswithcancer.org. Globe columnist Bella English, a Milton resident, can be reached at english@globe.com. 