Bjy Bobby Kerlik
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
PITTSBURGH — Families of three slain Pittsburgh police officers will split about $1.5 million raised through T-shirt sales and other donations, police union officials told an Allegheny County judge Monday.
Any money received after Aug. 4 will go to a permanent foundation being established to help families of police, firefighters and paramedics killed in the line of duty, said Officer Dan O’Hara, president of Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1.
“We want to ensure the families have a safe financial background. We’d like to thank everyone who donated,” O’Hara said. “We’re not here to try and make these families wealthy. We want them to be able to lead a reasonably decent life without having a father figure or a son.”
The union asked for Common Pleas Judge Lawrence J. O’Toole’s help in setting up the permanent fund and distributing the money to the families of Officers Eric G. Kelly, Stephen J. Mayhle and Paul J. Sciullo II, who were killed April 4 in Stanton Heights.
Widows Marena Kelly and Shandra Mayhle, and Sciullo’s parents, Paul and Julia Sciullo, told O’Toole they agreed to the fund distribution and disbursement.
“Thank you, thank you,” Julia Sciullo told O’Toole.
Marena Kelly and the Sciullos left court without speaking to reporters. Shandra Mayhle briefly said her two young daughters were doing OK.
“They’re strong,” she said.
O’Toole is expected to put the arrangements in writing.
O’Hara said the foundation — which does not have a name or a board of directors yet — is a necessity.
“We want to look to the future as well,” he said. “We know we’ll have other deaths, and we see the need for a permanent foundation.”
Such permanent funds are in place in cities such as Philadelphia and Oakland.
“I’ve never seen the kind of monetary support anywhere like we saw in Oakland and Pittsburgh. It’s amazing between the two departments how much money was raised,” said Renee Hassna, general manager of the Oakland Police Officers Association.
Officials there have raised between $1.5 million and $2 million since four Oakland officers were killed in March. Philadelphia police have lost seven officers in the past two years.
“Our Survivor’s Fund never stops spending,” said Steven Weiler, director of marketing and fundraising for FOP Lodge No. 5 in Philadelphia. “We have to take care of families the best we can. It was almost depleted after the last couple of deaths, but right now we’re doing well.”
Weiler said he raised about $50,000 in one day for the last Philadelphia officer killed in February. Contributions after that went to the Survivor’s Fund, he said.
In court filings last month, the Pittsburgh Fallen Heroes Fund totaled $1,361,227, including money from T-shirt sales and undesignated donations. That total now tops $1.5 million.
An additional $83,370, designated as an educational fund, was raised, according to last month’s court filing. That money will be split between the Mayhle and Kelly families because those officers have children, O’Hara said. That fund has increased closer to $100,000, he said.
Five trusts will be set up with court approval — one with about $500,000 for each of the families, and an additional two with $50,000 each for the Kelly and Mayhle children, O’Hara said. Disbursements from the trusts will occur during several years and each disbursement schedule is tailored to each families’ needs, O’Hara said. He declined to release the schedule.
Interest raised by the trusts will go back into those trusts.
A smaller amount of donations, totaling less than $25,000, was earmarked for specific families. That money will be donated according to the donor’s wishes, O’Hara said.
Mayhle left behind two daughters: Jennifer, 6, and Brooklynn, 3. Kelly left behind his wife and daughters Tameka, 22, Autumn, 16, and Janelle, 12. Sciullo was single.
Copyright 2009 Pitsburgh Tribune Review