Boy, 11, sacrifices birthday bash to thank police
LANSING, Mich. — Los Angeles Police Officer Gary Hall flew across the country to be thanked for his sacrifice by a boy who chose a ceremony honoring police over his 11th birthday party.
“After all the news coverage and everything, we start to feel like we’re getting kind of beat down,” said Hall, who attended Saturday's ceremony at Eastern High School’s Don Johnson Fieldhouse with his wife, Cyndi. “For a 10-year-old to be this selfless to give up his birthday party to thank the police, we both said, ‘You know what, we’re going to jump on a plane and fly out there.’ ”
Jeremie Bordua, who turned 11 on Monday, said police have been viewed in a bad light through news of deaths at the hands of officers, despite the good work of many.
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“It feels like they get bullied bad like I do,” the soft-spoken Jeremie, wearing a T-shirt reading “I Am the Future,” said before the program. “I just wanted to do this for them.”
The Mount Hope STEAM School fifth-grader said he’s been bullied by other students since kindergarten.
About 250 people attended, including about 60 uniformed officers, most from around Michigan and a few from out of state. Officials, including Lansing Police Chief Michael Yankowski and Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth, lauded Jeremie during the ceremony. Jeremie was made an honorary Lansing police officer, and was given his own, slightly ill-fitting uniform.
To pay for his party idea, Jeremie and his mother began selling homemade cookies at $5 a dozen last spring. He raised $10,000 through the sale of about 300 dozen — or 3,600 — cookies and donations through a GoFundMe site. His party cost a fraction of that, so he pledged the rest to the Lansing Police Athletic League. The non-profit pairs officers with at-risk youth for sporting activities.
Jeremie's story was previously featured in September on the CBS Evening News, which brought national attention to his cause.
“It’s a tough thing to be a police officer,” Wriggelsworth said at the ceremony. “This is the proverbial hug that we need.”
Follow Christopher Behnan on Twitter: @LansingCB