Nonprofit assists first responders during crises
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — With thousands of emergency first responders on the job in Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton County, a nonprofit stands ready to financially assist the employees and their families in the event of a death on the job or “another life-altering event.”
The 100 Club of Greater Lansing works with municipal fire, ambulance, and law enforcement as well as private emergency medical crews with financial donations and support for the individuals and their families.
Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth serves on the board of the organization. He says it began in 1984 when an East Lansing Police Officer was killed in the line of duty. At the time, many municipal governments did not have death benefits for officers killed in the line of duty.
Since the group’s formation, it has made a promise to meet the family of a person killed in the line of duty and deliver a $10,000 check. That handoff happens within 48 hours, he says.
“We want the family to grieve and not worry about how they are going to pay their mortgage or the funeral or getting family here, all that stuff,” Wriggelsworth says.
Two Lansing police officers shot, suspect in custody
But as municipalities have increased coverage for death in the line of duty, the 100 Club of Greater Lansing has expanded to provide financial assistance to emergency first responders and their families in situations that may not be a death, but impact the lives of the personnel.
“We provide financial donations for life-altering events that happen,” Wriggelsworth says. The two Lansing Police Department officers shot Wednesday would “certainly” qualify as a “life-altering event,” Wriggelsworth says.
In addition to providing immediate financial support for emergency responders in the wake of a line-of-duty death or for a life-altering event; the organization also helps finance scholarships through Lansing Community College Foundation to support paying for the continuing education of children of emergency first responders killed in the line of duty.
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