Jimmy Binns, president and CEO of Holiday Meals for Heroes, welcomed families of local police officers who died in the line of duty to a pre-Christmas breakfast at Sunnybrook Golf Club in Plymouth Meeting.
The Dec. 20 event was sponsored by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, which also provided families with Christmas dinners.
Among the families who attended were those of Temple University Sgt. Christopher Fitzgerald and Philadelphia Police Officers Gary Skerski, Isabelle Nazario, Timothy Simpson, Brian Lorenzo and Walter DeWitt.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel was in attendance, and Santa Claus made an appearance.
The crowd sang Happy Birthday to 10-year-old Olivia Mack, daughter of Pennsylvania State Trooper Martin Mack, who died in 2022 when he was hit on I-95 in South Philadelphia by a speeding drunk driver who was on her phone.
Highway Patrol Officer Andy Chan, who was severely injured in an accident as he headed to work on Rhawn Street in 2019, was at the breakfast. So was Upper Darby Highway Patrol Officer James Fagan, who suffered a fractured leg earlier this year on his way to work when a driver hit his motorcycle.
The event also takes place at Easter and Thanksgiving. ••
