Atlantic City Weekly

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200 Club steps up fundraising to help those left behind

By Ray Schweibert --> While police officers, firefighters and rescue workers are intimately aware of what the 200 Club has meant to the families of fallen colleagues, many people outside the loop may not be so sure.

For that reason, new measures are being taken to inform area residents of how the foundation assists those stricken by tragedy, and efforts made to bolster membership and garner more financial support.

The 200 Club's primary goal is to present financial assistance within 24 hours of a tragedy to the families of police, fire and rescue personnel killed in the line of duty. The Cape-Atlantic chapter was created in 1986 as a branch of the original club started in 1950 by a group of Detroit businessmen, each of whom contributed $200 to assist the family of slain police officer Andreas Mellert. Word spread of the good deed when reporter Jack Carlisle praised it in his Detroit News column, and the nationwide, non-profit organization now has 17 chapters in New Jersey alone.

On Sunday, March 26, a mass will be held at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church in Atlantic City followed by the 200 Club's annual breakfast at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa's main ballroom. The names of Atlantic City police officer Thomas McMeekin and firefighter Paul Carr, who both died in the line of duty in 2005, will be added to the ceremonial Roll Call. The breakfast's guest speaker will be Comcast SportsNet broadcaster Michael Barkann.

"The 200 Club is very well known within the police, fire and rescue sectors, but not so well known in the public and business sectors, and that's what we're trying to change," says 200 Club committee chairman Michael Facenda. "People have asked me why we chose not to get someone like a 9/11 rescue worker to be our guest speaker, and the reason is that [Barkann's] very well connected with a lot of local sports celebrities who can help us achieve some of our long-term goals."

In past years, the 200 Club breakfast has been the main source of revenue for the grieving families ($5,000 checks were given to the widows of McMeekin and Carr last year) and scholarship funds for children ($14,000 was doled out among 13 students in 2005), along with club membership fees. Facenda and first-year 200 Club president Larry Mullin (the Borgata's president and CEO) hope to build on those totals, having added a Silver Star Corporate Membership (minimum $1,000 contribution) to the existing two ($100 and $500), and setting in motion two other fundraising events.

"One of the things we'd like to host is a celebrity golf outing, and with all of his connections, Michael Barkann is someone who could help us bring in some big local sports names like Julius Erving, Donovan McNabb and others," says Facenda (nephew of the late, legendary Philadelphia broadcaster John Facenda). "Two other ideas we have in mind include a one-day car wash set up in four different locations in Cape May and Atlantic counties, and a turkey delivery to victims' families on Thanksgiving Day. As with the breakfast, any money we raise will go directly to the families."

Money raised during this year's breakfast will be earmarked for the family of Robert Wisting, who died at age 77 after 51 years on the Rio Grande Fire Department. Wisting went into heart failure one day after responding to his last call. A federal law defines a line-of-duty death as one that occurs within 24 hours of a fire call or drill. Wisting responded to over 3,800 emergency calls and was a WWII veteran.

New York/New Jersey Port Authority fire chief Joseph Morris was the first post-9/11 guest speaker at the Cape-Atlantic 200 Club breakfast in March 2002. The beneficiary that year was the family of Fred Marrone, the Director of the NY/NJ Port Authority who was killed attempting to rescue people from the World Trade Center. Marrone was a past co-chairman of the Cape-Atlantic 200 Club event.

Sweet Seats

When Avalon resident Dave Coskey got word that the Cape-Atlantic 200 Club was intensifying its efforts to raise funds, the former Trump Plaza, Philadelphia 76ers and Comcast Spectacor executive donated his four personal courtside seats to a 76ers-Denver Nuggets game to be raffled off at the club's annual breakfast. The donated tickets, it turned out, were to a game that preceded the breakfast, so 200 Club committee chairman Michael Facenda respectfully requested a trade for tickets to a post-breakfast game.

"I called him back and said, 'Dave that was very gracious of you, but can I exchange these for a game after the breakfast so we can raffle them off?'" says Facenda. "He said 'No, keep those and do something with them for the club. I'll send you another set you can raffle off.'"

On Thursday, March 9, Atlantic City Police Department detective Michael Graham took Matthew Brown, and brothers Phillip and Charles Carr (pictured at left), to the 76ers-Nuggets game. All four are 200 Club members who had close relatives perish in the line of duty.

"We had a great time, and it's those types of things that the 200 Club does for people that really helps them deal with traumatic events," says Graham, whose father, Clayton G. Graham, was the first Atlantic City police officer ever killed in the line of duty on April 23, 1962. "When you lose someone who's not just the family breadwinner or head of the household, but a loved one you rely on for so many things, you can't replace that."

Brown, 18, who will graduate from Holy Spirit High School later this spring, was attending his first live NBA game. "The seats were unbelievable," says Brown, son of ACPD sergeant Ken Brown who died in the line of duty in 2004. "We were right next to the entrance of the locker room, and every time the [76ers] players went in or out we clapped them up."

Phillip and Charles Carr's uncle, Charles Crowley, was a Hammonton firefighter who died in the line of duty in 1983. Their father, Henry Carr, was a sergeant in the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office who passed away in 2003. -- RS