Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine presented a $500 donation on behalf of the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department to the nonprofit A Quilt for Mother’s Tears, an organization that presents quilts to the mothers of fallen officers who have died in the line of duty.
Sheri and Tom Bradway of Nappanee were in Warsaw today to receive the check. Their son, Officer Rod Bradway of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was killed in the line of duty in 2013. According to the IMPD, Bradway was a highly decorated officer who had received his Medal of Bravery in February 2012. He was fatally shot while saving a woman that held been held at gunpoint for several hours.
Sheri quilted as a way to cope with the loss of Rod and dedicated her first quilt in his memory. She decided all mothers of fallen officers deserve a way to commemorate their children. She began A Quilt for Mother’s Tears and presents the quilts in May of each year at National Police Week in Washington, DC. On average, more than 100 officers are killed in the line of duty each year.
In honor of the organization, the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department donated $500 from the jail commissary fund to be used to make a quilt. That quilt will then be auctioned off and the proceeds will be used towards the nonprofit organization’s mission of assisting community members and police officers in the district IMPD Officer Bradway served.
A Quilt for Mother’s Tears is holding a quilt auction in the Pike Performing Arts Building in Indianapolis on October 1.
