Funeral Services Set For Fallen Officers

After two weeks of tragedy in the south, the community is coming together to Back the Badge. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation has set up a web page for people to donate to a fund for the fallen Baton Rouge officers. BRAF Communications Director Mukul Verma says they have already raised $30,000 and more donations are still coming in.

“We have more pledges that we expect to surpass easily $50,000 in the next 24 hours,” Verma said.

Verma says East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux is on the committee that decides how the money will be used to assist these families.

“They’ll be getting together today to make decisions. We expect the first round of checks to get to them pretty quickly within the next few days,” Verma said.

Verma says the East Baton Rouge First Responders Fund was established in 1988, and it has given over $150,000 to families of officers who were killed or wounded in the line of duty. He says donations can be made at BRAF.org, and every contribution helps.

“We’ve had over 300 contributions so far, everything from $10 to a gift of $3,000, and one just came in for $4,000,” Verma said.