Midmorning With Aundrea - December 1, 2020 (Part 3)

An nypd detective's desire to help a former colleague through an unimaginable tragedy has turned into a platform to support first responders around the country.

Meg oliver reports from new york.

Callie stocker was born august 31st, 2017.

Just eight months later, she was diagnosed with alexander's disease.

"she had her firs seizure at 11 months old."

The rare nervous system disorder has only affected 300 people in the last 80 years.

Brynith and jason are her parents.

"she never talke but she communicated with her eyes, with her-- with her gestures, with her smile."

Callie was hospitalized 40 times last year.

Will you ever be able to get out of medical debt?

I don't think so.

I mean, it---it's just stifling, the amount, you know.

Their medical bills multiplied& jason is a new york city sergeant.

His former nypd partner dective robert garland suggeted a crowdfunding campaign.

But the stocker family was worried about potential online scammers.

And i didn't really wanna do that because i know that there would be so many duplicates right off the bat.

I said, "listen.

I' gonna put pen to paper // and we're gonna make something just for-- for you guys so you could get the help that you guys deserve.

What started as a way to help a friend in need& became a three year project to develop the "fun the first" website garland's research discovered that out of more than an estimated 50 thousand campaigns online that focused on the military and first responders& at least 3 percent have duplicates.

So he partnered with a system called "i-d dot me" which helps securely verify someone's identity& including their job as a first responder.

It's the only crowdfunding website dedicated to those on the front lines.

So when a donor comes to a campaign // they know that the money is actually going to a trusted source.

So far, they have more than 66 active campaigns& that have raised more than 350-thousand dollars.

Including one to help the lake charles police department recover from hurricane laura&.22 employees lost everything.

They were legitimately sleeping on the floor in the squad room that night because they had nowhere nowhere else to go.

They're trying to raise 100-thousand dollars to help their officers buy furniture and rebuild.

It re-energizes you and it definitely restores your faith in folks out there.

Outside atlanta captain damien butler set up a campaign for the families of two colleagues who recently died in a car accident.

"it shows that th community really do care // and you see the, the response and the outpouring of love."

And in southern oregon - firefighters are using the site for help rebuilding a pivotal fire station lost in this summer's alameda fire.

Without the campaign that just means that we're waiting, that much longer to be able to restore vital vital services and equipment.

That's all since the launch of fund the first in july& five months after callie passed away.

What does it mean to you that callie's legacy is going to live on through this site of helping others?

It's huge.

It means so much that not just our lives we're touched by her, but that a lot of other people are going to be.

A little girl's legacy paying it forward one campaign at a time.

Meg oliver, new york.

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