Organization receives donation honoring fallen CPD offficer Ella French

CHICAGO (CBS) — An organization dedicated to supporting Chicago police officers received a large surprise donation at a South Side church in honor of a fallen officer.

Light the Line was formed by Elizabeth French, the mother of fallen Chicago police officer Ella French, and Carlos Yanez Jr., her police partner who was also seriously wounded.

As the sounds from Emerald Society Pipe and Drum Band echoed inside St. Christina Church in Mt. Greenwood, tears fell from officer Carlos Yanez Jr. as amazing grace played.

Yanez and Elizabeth French thought they were just there for a church mass, but then the students of St. Christina School walked out with something much more meaningful.

They presented a special donation to French benefiting the Light the Line organization.

"Our mission is to be out there for those officers wherever they may be. If they need something, let us know, and we'll just try, wherever, whenever we can help them," French said.

Light the Line was formed by French, Yanez, and Jason Blas to provide vital emotional support and resources to police officers working challenging shifts. They also deploy to tragedies and scenes of violence across the city to support those who serve and protect.

"Anything that I can do to be a part of giving back to the officers and the community as well, I want to continue doing it," Yanez Jr. said.

The students from the school raised $1,200.

David Kemps, 11, helped. He said his class raised a portion of the donations in two days, just in time for the annual Blue Mass to pray for the protection of first responders.

"We knew this mass was coming up, so we wanted, as a school, to raise money for this foundation together as a school," he said.

The church decided to match what the school raised, bringing the donation to a total of $2,400.

French said part of the donations will fund Light the Line, and the rest will renovate the mobile support unit.

"When we got our vehicle, we envisioned having a bathroom and things like that. So we want to do some modifications to that," she said. "We want to go out there and get more volunteers. Eventually, we'd like a fleet of these vehicles out there because one vehicle can't cover the whole city."

French says being out in the field helping officers ease the hurt of losing her daughter a little bit.

"Being able to pay it forward in part through Light the Line is just wonderful and I absolutely know my daughter would just approve of it."