Page 38 - June2021

Rolling in Remembrance
Chicago Police Officers who will be participating in Cycle Across Illinois to honor fallen officers gather at the Chicago FOP on May 13.
Lodge 7 Women’s Committee raises funds to support members riding the Cycle Across Illinois
n BY KAREN JENKINS
n PHOTOS BY JAMES PINTO
Marikay O’Brien couldn’t stop the tears.
She gripped the handlebars of her bike while listening to the cheers of 500 elementary school students who had lined up around their school. Some even held homemade signs, adorned with stickers and doodles.
Monica Ortiz looked at O’Brien and laughed, knowing that this ride through one of many small towns as part of Cycle Across Illinois was only the beginning of an emotional, ex- hausting and uplifting four-day journey.
“It reminds you, you know, this country is a great place to live,” O’Brien said of that ride a decade ago. “We don’t neces- sarily hear so much in the city because everybody’s so busy, but
38 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JUNE 2021
Small Town, U.S.A., still does exist, and they’re alive and well.” O’Brien and Ortiz were some of the first Chicago Police Of- ficers to participate in Cycle Across Illinois, a charity ride that has raised money and awareness for the for the Illinois chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) since 2004. Now in its 17th year, Cycle Across Illinois has grown from an average of five Chicago Police Officers participating annually to 16 offi-
cers riding in 2021.
They will be honoring the 140 to 160 officers killed in the line
of duty every year, according to the Illinois C.O.P.S. website. The organization provides emotional and financial support, as well as legal assistance, to the survivors of fallen officers.
“What’s unique about this ride is you actually have surviv- ing family members riding, so my sense was it was like a ther-