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December 13, 2002
Queen honors local cop
Kevin Krygier has raised more than $50,000 for 9/11.
KYLE BERGER REPORTER
Many stories of heroism and selfless acts have come to the forefront
since the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. More than a year later,
on Dec. 3, one of Whalley's finest, a member of the Richmond Jewish
community, was honored with a Queen's Jubilee Medal for his tribute
to the police and fire department victims of that day.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Constable Kevin Krygier was
among 250 officers or staff of the RCMP who received the Queen's
recognition for community service above and beyond the call of duty.
Each medal recipient had been nominated anonymously by a peer.
Krygier, along with co-worker Mike Spencer, was given the award
for selling what they call Tribute Caps. Their goal was to create
1,000 hats that recognized both the New York police and fire departments'
contributions to the rescue effort and, by doing so, raise money
for the families of Sept. 11 victims.
The front of the caps have the date Sept. 11, 2001, above the bolded
letters NYPD and NYFD. The bottom line on the cap reads, "Remembered
forever." The back of the hats feature the RCMP logo.
"Everybody felt like they wanted to do something to help,"
Krygier said of the project's motivation. "We figured that
we could also help generate funds to send to [New York] and show
some support for the people there."
The original plan was to sell the hats, $20 each, through word of
mouth. However, after national syndicated radio host Dave Rutherford
mentioned the project on the air, Krygier said he and Spencer found
themselves swamped with orders and requests from all across Canada
and the United States.
"We didn't anticipate it being this popular and we had trouble
keeping up with the orders," said Krygier. "When we would
order 1,000 hats, by the time we got them we'd have a backlog of
3,000 more orders."
As of the Bulletin's press time, Krygier said they had sold more
than 10,000 hats and had approximately $50,000 sitting in a trust
account waiting to be sent to New York.
Although nominations for the Queen's Jubilee Medal are usually anonymous,
Krygier and Spencer had received an encouraging e-mail from an RCMP
inspector in Ottawa who had placed several orders for hats himself.
"He sent us an e-mail wanting to know more about how the program
started," Krygier said. "When I asked why, he said, 'Let's
just say it involves a medal.' "
"No one does stuff like this to get recognized," said
Krygier. "It's a tikkun olam [repairing the world] thing. But
it feels good to know that your energy went into something useful."
The awards were presented by RCMP Deputy Commissioner B.A. Busson
at a ceremony at the Lower Mainland's RCMP headquarters in Vancouver.
The medal itself was specially designed to honor the 50th anniversary
of Elizabeth II as Queen of England.
Krygier said there are still almost 1,000 hats available that can
be ordered online at www.tributecap.ca.
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