Businesses raise money for family of Howard County Deputy Carl Koontz
KOKOMO (WISH) — More than $58,000 has been raised for the family of Howard County Deputy Carl Koontz.
The donations are coming in from people and businesses from across the country.
Businesses in Kokomo are trying to help with those efforts by making shirts, yard signs, and key-chains.
Just down the street from the Howard County Sheriff’s Office is Kokomo Uniform, just one of many stores in town showing support for a deputy killed in the line of duty.
“We sell to police officers and if we didn’t have them we wouldn’t have a business,” said Dawn Stoerger, owner of Kokomo Uniform. “So to be able to give back to them we definitely want to help in any way that we can.”
Stoerger said this past week has been difficult.
Worried about the deputy’s wife and eight-month-old son, she said she came up with an idea to raise money to support them by selling shirts in his memory.
“We have made over 300 shirts and it’s still ongoing, last count was over $2,000 raised,” she said.
Stoerger is now trying to keep up with the growing demand.
“I mean nonstop coming in, phone calls, nonstop Facebook messages we’ve been getting,” she said. “We’re not able to answer them throughout the day because people coming in and out.”
The shirts are available in sizes for adults and kids. Each shirt sells for about $15 with many customers giving so much more.
“If the shirt is $15 and the key-chain is $6 they’re giving $40 and saying just give the rest to her,” said Stoerger.
The Blue Line Indiana key-chains are hand-made by Jennifer Dillman. She is the owner of LucyBelle Boutique. She told 24-Hour News 8 they too, are trying to keep up with the orders.
She said 350 key-chains will be hand-made by women from across the country.
While the community prepares to say goodbye to Deputy Koontz on Tuesday, the support is ongoing. Driving through Kokomo Monday evening, it’s hard to miss the blue ribbons and messages.
Money is also being raised for Sergeant Jordan Buckley. He was injured in the shooting.
Click here to donate money to the family of Deputy Koontz or click here to donate money to the family of Sgt. Buckley.
To purchase at Blue Line Indiana key chain from LuckyBelle Boutique, click here.