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an evening of dinner and dancing with a live band on May 13. Chicago Police Officers and the families of fallen offi- cers attended, raising more than $6,000 for Illinois C.O.P.S. The fundraiser took down the participation fee by $300 per rider.
O’Brien watched the family of Officer Titus Moore, whose end of watch was Nov. 24, 2020, enjoy the event by hon- oring the fallen throughout the entire night.
“[ Titus Moore’s] family came, and they had young kids. I thought they would come for an hour or two,” O’Brien recalled. “But people were coming up to them all night. They didn’t want to leave. I think they enjoyed it so much — you know, these couple hundred people were there because of their brother and family member — I think they just kind of wanted to soak it all in.”
Watching the survivors celebrate each other all night was enough to make the fundraiser worth it for Ortiz. She felt like it was a triumphant kickoff event to the ride in July.
“One of the things that this job en- tails is members who make the ultimate sacrifice, and we just don’t ever want to forget,” Ortiz shared. “We don’t want
The Lodge 7 Women’s Committee hosted the May 13 event, during which prizes were raffled off, to raise money to help Chicago Police Officers participate in Cycle Across Illinois.
their family members to think we forgot. And that’s why we like to do things and events like this to support one another, to support those families and let them know that we’ll never forget them and that they’ll always have our support if they need us.”
While O’Brien won’t be taking the trip as a biker this year, she still likes to stay involved year after year. She knows that even though Chicago Police Officers are enduring 12-hour shifts and canceled days off, they will still make the time to
honor the fallen. It’s part of who they are. “You definitely walk in as a stranger, but going through that together, you kind of bond with everyone,” O’Brien said. “We always promise — and it’s kind of a theme in law enforcement — that we’ll never forget. And most of us actu- ally live that every day. We have become friends and family with people who have lost a loved one. I feel like it’s our duty through the rest of our careers and our retirement to let them know that their
life is remembered.”
40 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JUNE 2021