Page 36 - January 2016

Bringing holiday cheer to families of the fallen
n BY NICK SWEDBERG
n PHOTOS BY JAMES PINTO
Katarina Perez handed the children of the Smetana family a dec- orated bag containing a handmade snow globe, similar to the one Perez gave them last year.
The exchange happened on a rainy December morning inside the family’s north suburban home as they sat on a sofa in the living room decorated for Christmas. A nearby pine tree wrapped in ornaments twinkled in the soft light as dozens of police officers and volunteers shared holiday cheer. One handmade ornament on the tree simply read “I (heart) MY DAD.”
Perez and the Smetana children share one specific thing in com- mon: they both lost their police officer fathers in the line of duty. And they’re not alone.
Dozens of police officers visited homes across the suburbs and Chicago on Dec. 14 and 15 in the eighth year of Operation Santa, the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation’s annual mobile Christmas party that visits the families of fallen CPD officers.
dren Katarina, Benjamin and Rebecca.
Katarina, now 22, makes the rounds with Operation Santa to let
“It’s nice that we’re bringing presents. It’s nice that we’re bringing money for the families,” said Phil Cline, the executive director of the Chicago Police Memorial Fund and a retired Chicago Police Depart- ment superintendent. “But I think the most important thing for the families is it shows that they’re not forgotten. That we haven’t forgot- ten the sacrifice this family has made.”
the other families know their sacrifice is remembered. She spent hours gathering the supplies and building the snow globes herself for the families.
Volunteers helping out the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation’s event spent their weekend visiting four families on Saturday and seven families on Sunday, including Perez’s family.
A motorcade of police cars carried Santa and Mrs. Claus to the homes. Foundation supporters, including Macy’s, contributed gifts and donations to the event.
“I will always be so appreciative for everything that they have done and the opportunities that they have given us, my brother and my sister and myself,” Perez said.
“It’s really nice having them come every year,” said Kaitlyn Smetana. Her father, Myles Smetana, suffered a heart attack following an incident with a mentally-ill man. He is survived by wife Kathy and children Erin, Kaitlyn and Zachary.
Her father, Benjamin Perez, died in September 2002 at the age of 32. He had been on the job four years in Chicago’s 10th District when strong winds pulled him under a commuter train during a narcotics surveillance operation. He is survived by his wife Michele and chil-
Her sister, Erin, said the officers and volunteers are “basically like our family” because they come around the holidays every year.
36 CHICAGO LODGE 7 n JANUARY 2016
“I just like feeling appreciated, knowing that they ... never forget about us,” Kaitlyn added.
“And they cheer us all,” she continued. “It’s fun when they come.”