RICHLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The foundation for a fallen Wayne State University police officer from Richland Township has paid off the lunch debts of 587 students in Gull Lake Community Schools.
The parents of Officer Collin Rose presented a check to the superintendent Friday in the high school cafeteria.
The Officer Collin Rose Memorial Foundation donated $3,501.28 — more than the amount of the debts so the figure would end in 128, Rose’s badge number.
Rose, 29, was killed in the line of duty while serving with the Wayne State University Police Department in November 2016.
His father Randy Rose said paying the lunch debts just made sense after hearing stories from officers who searched for his son’s killer.
“They would go around asking them, ‘Do you remember this officer? Is there anything you know?’ And they would come back with, ‘No I don’t know anything about the crime, but I remember him because he bought me lunch,’” Randy Rose said.
Gull Lake Superintendent Raphael Rittenhouse says the district always feeds students regardless of their ability to pay but the kindness from the foundation will have an impact.
“We work very hard to make sure kids aren’t even having to think about it,” Rittenhouse said. “I think it’s a benefit more to the families involved and the people caring directly for those students.”
Rose’s parents visited the school to present the check with his K-9 Epsilon by their side.
“This was where he (Collin) spent a good portion of his school life here at the Gull Lake School district,” Randy Rose said. “We just thought it was the right thing to do.”
Karen Rose, Collin’s mother, said the foundation is helping people in need across the state.
“Police officers that he has worked with prior formed this group in Collin’s memory and they’re doing great things,” Karen Rose said.
The foundation has also awarded three scholarships in Collin Rose’s name to students pursuing a career as a first responder.
