CANARYVILLE — A neighborhood couple is selling blue light bulbs to raise money for a Horses of Honor statue to salute a fallen Chicago Police officer who lived in Canaryville.
From 6-9 p.m. Thursday, in the cul-de-sac outside the Canaryville Little League ballpark at 45th Place and Normal, Michael McNamara will pass out the bulbs for $2 each.
McNamara and his wife, Carla Longo-McNamara, the owner of Bridgeport's Smart Stuff Learning Center, have already raised more than $900.
They need $5,000 to buy a Horses of Honor statue and hire an artist to paint it.
Money used to buy the statues benefits the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, which gives money to the families of fallen officers, supplying college funds for their children and helping pay for rehabilitation and other necessary care for officers who survive injuries in the line of duty.
The horse would honor Daniel Howard, a Chicago Police officer and Canaryville man who died in the line of duty on Jan. 1, 1975.
Howard and his partner, Officer Donald Andrews, were on their way to the 47th Street Red Line station to check out a report of two people with a gun. At the intersection of 43rd Street and Michigan Avenue, Howard's car collided with another patrol car.
Both Howard and Andrews died in the crash.
A graduate of Visitation Elementary School and De La Salle Institute, Howard was an Army veteran who served in Vietnam. As a police officer, he wore star number 5983.
Growing up in the neighborhood, McNamara remembers seeing Howard's picture on a wall in the Flags Club.
“The kids in the neighborhood need to know about these guys,” said McNamara, whose father was a police officer. “They’re our local heroes."
Bridgeport-area artist Erika Vazzana, who painted the Horses of Honors statue outside Fabulous Freddies Italian Eatery in Bridgeport, has agreed to paint the statue honoring Howard.
When the horse is finished, McNamara said, it could end up outside the Flags Club, 552 W. 47th St. He needs to sell enough blue light bulbs first.
Blue bulbs have been burning in other neighborhoods. The Garfield Ridge Neighborhood Watch recently sold more than 1,500 bulbs to raise money for the families of police officers killed in Dallas and Baton Rogue.
Mike Noonan, owner of Bridgeport's Midwest Industrial Lighting, donated the bulbs to the McNamara.
To make a donation to help pay for the Horse of Honor statue, email McNamara at CanaryvilleMemorialFoundation@gmail.com.
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