TAMKO Building Products is helping honor three Joplin, Mo. police officers and their families with a fundraiser that has collected nearly $200,000.
According to the Joplin Globe, TAMKO announced the fundraiser in March following the deaths of Cpl. Ben Cooper and Officer Jake Reed and injury of Officer Rick Hirshey of the Joplin Police Department. On March 8, the officers were shot in an exchange of gunfire with a Joplin man. Hirshey was released from the hospital on March 16.
TAMKO announced it would match donations for the families of the three officers up to $25,000. Kim Eckerman, director of marketing and communications for the company, told the Joplin Globe that other businesses exceeded those donations.
“We greatly appreciate the community stepping up in this effort,” Eckerman told the Joplin Globe. “Support for law enforcement is nothing new for TAMKO, but when we saw the need, we wanted to support these families.”
The money was delivered to the police department on April 8. TAMKO donated an initial $25,000 along with its match. TAMKO employees also raised $15,000 in donations that the company also matched. Others that donated include a $25,000 donation from Crossland Construction, $15,000 from Freeman Health Systems and $2,500 from Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Four States.