Annual pancake breakfast helps give Chicago police officers bulletproof vests

CHICAGO — When it comes to finding purpose in pancakes, Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood knows the drill of the griddle.

For ten years, 19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea has hosted the Get Behind the Vest pancake breakfast benefiting the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation.

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“You see all these folks here coming out to say ‘Chicago police officers, we support you,'” Maureen Biggane, of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, said.

While the city gives each officer a vest when they come out of the academy, officers are responsible for replacements.

“Bulletproof vests have a shelf life,” Biggane said.

It’s typically about five years.

“Officers are required to purchase their own at that point and the foundation stepped in about 10 years ago and started an initiative to purchase replacement vests for Chicago police officers,” Biggane said.

The money raised at Sunday’s breakfast goes to buy new vests. The goal is to replace 500 of them each year at a cost of $600 a piece.

In the last decade, these breakfasts raised nearly $600,000 for the cause.

In June 2022, Chicago police Officer Erik Moreno was released from the hospital just days after being shot during a traffic stop at 69th and Sangamon in Englewood.

He was hit twice: once in the arm and once in the upper torso.

The fast actions of his partners, he said, saved his life that day.

He was wearing his vest as well.

“We come together in support of good causes and there’s no better cause than protecting and supporting our police officers,” O’Shea said.

The pancakes and the annual breakfast are a way, O’Shea says, for everyday Chicagoans to show their support in a community-focused way.

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