Valor Awards
NJ State PBA Local of the Year
Jamesburg Local 389
Jamesburg Local 389 members accept the PBA Local of the Year award with Mimi Raja ( third from right ).
All for Mikayla and all because of Mikayla n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
One act of random kindness set the 121st Annual NJ State PBA Valor Awards into a viral frenzy . One act that begat another and another and another , and it ’ s still going even beyond the moment when the Harrah ’ s ballroom erupted over hearing that Jamesburg Local 389 had been named NJ State PBA Local of the Year .
The one act that began it all , of course , came on April 21 when 8-year-old Mikayla Raji anonymously bought lunch for Jamesburg Patrolman Joseph Quinn at Helmetta ’ s Villa Borghese , a local pizza place . When Quinn reported what had happened , Jamesburg deployed some detective work that revealed the perpetrator was a little girl whose father , Perth Amboy Local 13 Officer Thomas Raji , was killed by a drunk driver in the line of duty on Aug . 22 , 2008 , seven months before she was born . Local 389 member Rich Bruno posted the findings on Facebook on April 24 , and it became the story that brought law enforcement its most illustrious recognition . In the world .
Let ’ s do a little social media math . That Facebook post was immediately shared nearly 1,200 times that day . If each of those shares went to a person with at least 500 friends ( probably a low estimate by about 50 percent ), then more than 600,000 people got wind of this story . In one day .
The story has only grown , with more than a dozen major media outlets picking it up , including the cover story of the May issue of NJ Cops Magazine . Jamesburg started a GoFundMe page that will raise $ 20,000 for Mikayla to use for her education . On July 25 , Quinn and Bruno accompanied Mikayla and her mother , Mimi , a retired Perth Amboy Local 13 member , to a Yankees
game , where she met 2017 American League Rookie of the Year Aaron Judge and then-manager Joe Girardi . She even threw out the ceremonial first pitch .
“ The way the story came out and the way it made us all shine ,” reasoned President Pat Colligan for why the State PBA selected Jamesburg for the honor . “ Generally , a good cop story doesn ’ t sell . But here ’ s a story that was done without the media by the average person . Jamesburg was gracious to tell the story and hundreds of thousands of people smiled about it . We should all be doing that .”
Local 389 represents a 14-person department , 14 big brothers to Mikayla . What remains a wonder to all of them , and has become great uniting source of pride , is how a small department can do something that turned out so big .
“ We ’ re a close-knit group . We all enjoy helping and being supportive of each other . It ’ s something we all have instilled in us ,” explained Local 389 State Delegate Steve Burzachiello after he led his contingent up to accept the Local of the Year recognition . What they accomplished in what has been really an ongoing effort to honor Mikayla , Mimi and Tommy has not been lost on this band of brothers .
“ When you see so many bad things going on in the world and somebody is so generous , it makes you feel really good about things again ,” Burzachiello continued . “ Things you don ’ t expect to happen can really happen .”
One of those things continued the trajectory of impact that Mikayla and Local 389 combined to make . On June 14 , Bruno escorted Mikayla and Mimi to the Mothers Against Drunk Driving
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