Published: June 19, 2009 04:47 pm      

Blood drive honors fallen officers

AVON —

The Avon Police Department participated in the third annual Fallen Officers Blood Drive on Thursday.

The drive is championed each year by Janice Starnes. Her husband, Sgt. Dan R. Starnes of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department, lost his life as a result of gunshot wounds sustained during a line of duty gun battle in 2001.

Starnes organized a blood drive in Morgan County and has organized a blood drive each year since then in her husband’s memory. She took the blood drive statewide in 2007. Her initial goal was to collect 1,500 units of blood, but she ended up getting more than 5,000 units.

Carolyn Dudley, wife of fallen Indiana State Police officer Gary Dudley, was on hand for the event. Gary Dudley was killed in 2006 during a charity bicycle ride to benefit the Indiana chapter of COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors), which is an organization that raises money and awareness for families of fallen Indiana law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

Dudley said she will make it to four blood drives across the state this year.

“(Janice) started the blood drive while he was in the hospital and then continued the blood drive,” Dudley said. “It’s statewide. There’s one in every county in the state.”

Dudley said the donated blood goes a long way toward helping people.

“It’s critical,” she said. “For every unit, three people are helped. You just never know when you’re going to need it. It’s a nice way to honor the officers that died in the line of duty and say ‘thank you’ to those officers that are currently serving.”

Dudley is co-president of the Indiana Chapter of COPS. Each year she is the chairperson for Gary’s Ride, which takes place at the Indiana Law Enforcement Training Academy in Plainfield. This year’s ride is Aug. 22. Money goes toward the Gary Dudley Memorial Foundation, which was established to award college scholarships to children of Hoosier police officers killed in the line of duty.

“All proceeds benefit the scholarship foundation,” Dudley said. “It’s free and open to the public and there will be displays for the kids, so they can see the ambulances, see the Mustangs, and have a good interaction with (officers).”

Dudley said she hopes the blood drive continues to expand, and would like to see one in Plainfield, Brownsburg, Danville, and Avon next year.

“The main thing is the meaning behind it,” she said. “It’s not just my husband specifically, but really to say ‘thank you’ to officers that are currently serving and to honor those that died in the line of duty.”



charlee.beasor@flyergroup.com