Honoring Fallen Heroes
Helping Families Survive
by Michael David McGuire

John Nagele has a heart of gold… and a stack of thank you notes from families and police officials to prove it. After working as a cop and an EMT you would think that Nagele would be hardened to the tragedy that goes with police, military and fire service work. “When I was a young guy,” Nagele said in a telephone interview from his suburban Philadelphia office, “I would see guys go down. And no matter how much the community or force would rally around… it seemed like the guy’s family really went through a hard time financially. I wanted to do something about that… so I grabbed on what I knew best.”

What Nagele knows best is how to quickly raise money by selling custom designed Tee Shirts to individuals and businesses. He admits that he has been very lucky to be have been so successful in his field. “I realized that each of us has a gift to give a family in need. I watched restaurants donate food when an officer was killed. I watched lodges come together to help with school tuition for an injured fireman’s kids. I saw military families help with carpooling after a deployment. What I had to offer was a lot of knowledge about the custom tee shirt business and how to help families raise cash money for immediate needs.” And Nagele has done a great deal of that in just this past year alone… helping to raise tens of thousands of dollars for fallen heroes and showing others how to do the same in communities across the nation.

“We’ve seen way too many unfortunate situations in this past few months,” Nagele said, referring to police deaths in his native Philadelphia, Oakland and Detroit. “Kind words can mean a lot, but cash in hand helps with the things a family really needs after all of the salutes and media attention fades. This is the least that I can do for those who have given so much to so many others.” Nagele is quite passionate and forceful regarding what he sees as a life mission. “I can spend time going to the movies with my daughter… we can walk the streets at night. All because our police, military and fire heroes give us their one hundred percent. This is the very least that I can do in return.”

As we have seen in the past, the community wants to do something after a tragedy occurs, but the sad fact of the matter is that way too often the local community efforts are uncoordinated and not well-organized. This is where John Nagele feels he can bring his businessman’s sense to the fundraising efforts on behalf of the family in need. “I have the design team in place, I have the t-shirt inventory on hand…and I know from experience how to organize and coordinate this kind of effort very quickly.”

Typically, Nagele can help local fundraising teams generate as much as $12,000 per event. “I know it’s not a million dollars,” Nagele says, “but it is a step to helping families with immediate needs at a difficult time. When I was working the streets… I know that some of the guys would have done the same for me. Now, this is the least that I can do for them. If everyone does just one little thing… we’ll certainly have a better world soon.”

John Nagele seems very proud of his fundraising work and many families are quietly thankful. “A fact of life is that bad things happen to good people,” Nagele lectures me as he brings our brief interview to an end. “Those heroes who make the ultimate sacrifice would want to make certain that their family has what they need after they are gone. And it is up to those of us left behind to make certain that those needs are met.”

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Michael David McGuire is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles and New York. For more information please call Mr. McGuire at (323) 656-3000.