Brothers Using Lemonade Stand to Help Slain Ohio Police Officer's Family
What to know
- Two brothers will be using their Brooklyn lemonade stand to raise money for the family of slain Lorain Police Officer Phillip Wagner, as well as the families of wounded Officers Peter Gale and Brent Payne.
- They started their stand, Lemonade Stand for Heroes, and it has raised over $21,000 for law enforcement families.
- And the support isn't one way: The brothers have walls of police patches sent from appreciative departments across the country.
Two brothers have set out to help the family of a slain Ohio police officer by setting up and raising money with a lemonade stand over the weekend.
Gideon and Josiah Trank decided to set up their Brooklyn lemonade stand to help not only the family of fallen Lorain Police Officer Phillip Wagner, but also the families of Officers Peter Gale and Brent Payne, WKYC-TV reports. Wagner was shot and killed in an ambush attack last week that also left Gale and Payne wounded.
But this isn't the first time the brothers have stepped up to aid law enforcement officers. Gideon, 13, and Josia, 11, have walls covered with police patches from around the country, shows of appreciation for the brothers' support.
"I just really love how they protect the people and save everyone," Josiah told WKYC.
Seven years ago, the boys' mother had built them a lemonade stand. But instead of trying to earn spending money, the brothers decided they wanted to use the stand to raise money for the family of Cleveland Police Officer Vu Nguyen, who died from heat stroke while on duty.
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- A funeral service for fallen Lorain Police Officer Phillip Wagner at Cleveland's Rocket Arena included law enforcement officers from around the state, as well as the two officers injured in the attack that killed Wagner.
"It was overwhelming, but in a good way because we didn't expect so many people to show up," said Machelle Trank, the boy's mom.
Since then, the brothers' Lemonade Stand for Heroes has raised over $21,000 for the families of fallen law enforcement officers in northeast Ohio.
Last year, the family of Cleveland Police Officer Jamieson, who was killed in a July 4 shooting, visited the Gideon and Josiah's stand. Ritter's father even gave the brothers one of his son's police patches.
"They were crying, so we started crying, and we shared hugs and stuff like that," Machelle said of the visit.
The brothers don't charge law enforcement at their stand, and they get their share of officers visiting them.
"They just say how much they love this." said Gideon.
