Page 42 - December 2015

Building the Foundation
Business and community leaders form Chicago Police Foundation to provide support on the job for Department Officers
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Chicago Police Foundation Executive Director Mary Ann Rose, left, and Chairman of the Board John Robak, second from right, with CPD officers.
When Mary Ann Rose served as Chairman of the Board of the Mag- nificent Mile Association, she witnessed the prominence of Chicago Police Officers manifesting in, among other triumphs, incident-free securing of the NATO Conference held in the city during the summer of 2013, the containment of dangerous flash mobs and several other efforts the general public would not notice because of what didn’t hap- pen.
safe environment where businesses want to be located and where they want to conduct business.”
“Chicago is the best city in the entire world, and the reason is because of the way police takes care of it,” Rose elaborates. I don’t think people give police officers enough credit for what they are doing, and I feel very strongly that we have to get behind them.”
On Nov. 7, the Chicago Police Foundation hosted the True Blue Event in an elegantly-decorated tent outside of Department head- quarters. More than 300 guests attended the Foundation’s inaugural event that raised more than $400,000 through donations and an extraordinary auction that will be contributed to support the purchase of equipment for the CPD SWAT team and other units, as well as ini- tiatives to upgrade technology, training and education for officers and strengthen community partnerships.
Rose and Foundation Chairman of the Board John C. Robak, the President and Chief Operating Officer of Greeley and Hansen, are spearheading a group of the city’s high-powered business and com- munity leaders to get behind law enforcement. The alliance has spawned the Chicago Police Foundation, a new, independent, non- profit organization bent on supporting and funding programs that supplement resources and equipment for the CPD.
The silent auction featured such high-demand items as four Black- hawks tickets on the glass with parking passes, four Bulls courtside seats and a hockey stick signed by every member of the Hawks 2015 Stanley Cup champion team. United Airlines added airline ticket upgrades, and that helped raise considerably more than the Founda- tion targeted.
The Foundation puts Chicago in the company of New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle and many other major cities that have con- certed efforts to help foster favorable relationships between coppers and the communities they serve.
TheeventwasalsocateredbyGibsonsSteakhouse. AndFatherDan Brandt and Rabbi Moshe Wolf kicked off the evening with an invoca- tion that Rose said added a bit of Martin-and-Lewis to the festivities.
Specifically, the Foundation wants to provide supplemental funding to the Department budget that will help keep pace with the latest equipment and emerging technologies in policing, provide edu- cation, training and skill development for all CPD officers and strengthen the partnership between the police and the public through community outreach and youth programs.
We’re one of a few the only major city cities without a police this type of foundation to support our police department,” continues Rose, who is serving as the Foundation Executive Director in addition to running her renowned events company, Tamar Productions. “We have some people who really, really care and want to be in the foxhole to help add funds to an already limited budget.”
Adds Robak: “In these unsettled times around policing, we have the chance to advance the lives of the people in Chicago. By supporting the safety of our officers, we make an economic impact by having a
Officers from the K9 Unit, Bomb Squad, SWAT Team and Medical Team were at the event to answer questions and meet with citizens attending.
42 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ DECEMBER 2015