My mom took me up to the daycare to pick up Caroline, and I have to tell Caroline that her dad is gone to heaven, that we won't get to see him here on earth anymore.

And just the sweetest, childlike phrase, she just looked at me and said, "You mean my dad won't be here on my merry day?"

And we all just cried.

[Michael] Funding for this program comes from the Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation, with additional support from the American Advertising Federation of Roanoke.

(gentle piano music) Though I have lived most of my life away from Alabama, part of me still thinks of Birmingham as home.

I was born here in Roebuck Springs, grew up in the shadow of East Lake United Methodist Church, and went to Birmingham Southern College, where I met some big-minded and even bigger-hearted people who became my best friends for life.

It was Birmingham Southern that inspired a love of service, not to mention a love for my future wife, while on a mission trip to Brazil.

This passion stayed with me as my wife and I eventually settled in Virginia, where, for more than 20 years now, I have volunteered and worked for nonprofit organizations.

I love nonprofits, the people they serve, the good they do across every part of life, from food pantries and homeless shelters to groups dedicated to arts and culture.

But whether from lack of money, time, or talent, nonprofits, I've noticed, too often don't do a good job of marketing themselves to attract more people to their cause.

So in 2020, I started a TV show in Virginia called "BUZZ," which I hoped would give some buzz to nonprofits through marketing makeovers donated by creative professionals.

(gentle piano music) Now, I hadn't planned on being the host of the show.

I wanted to pay a pro.

But it was the start of the pandemic, and my sponsorship funding quickly evaporated.

And, well, I was who I could afford.

What I lacked in talent I made up for with a willingness to make a spectacle of myself.

Such as this episode featuring the horse riding therapy center, Healing Strides of Virginia.

So squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.

(laughs) (laughs) What do I do?

Or here at Mill Mountain Zoo and Wildlife Refuge.

Yeah.

Okay, okay, okay.

Very nice.

Or my favorite, Southwest Virginia Ballet.

Get all the way to the big toe.

And the little toes go all the way to you here.

No, they don't.

Okay.

Yes, they are.

[Instructor] Get up from the floor a little bit.

Hold it.

Nope.

Higher.

Nope.

-Oh, nope.

That's it.

-Michael, I'm waiting for you.

And we go and down.

[Michael] Thankfully, I had a group of actually talented people who were willing to donate vital marketing assets for my show: a new website, social media campaign, rebranding, and on and on.

As well as generous sponsors who appreciated our mission and helped fund it.

And by summer 2023, we had produced 37 episodes starring and helping nearly 50 nonprofits.

So I decided it was time to bring "BUZZ" to my hometown.

(gentle piano music) A Birmingham Southern friend of mine connected me with the Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation, who in turn connected me with some nonprofits to feature in this first of what I hope will be many rounds of "BUZZ."

Another Birmingham Southern friend, Brooke Battle, owner of Swell, a nonprofit fundraising platform, suggested another organization.

As for the production team, I reached out to my alma mater and was introduced to Teddy Champion, Birmingham Southern's program director for media and film studies.

He agreed to recruit some of his former and current students.

Together, we got to work in August 2023, producing four episodes of "BUZZ" in Birmingham.

The four nonprofits who will be the stars of our show have missions as varied as their hearts are deep: Bundles of Hope Diaper Bank, Studio By The Tracks, Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, and Children of Slain Police Officers, whose work we feature here in episode one.

It's good to be home.

So this was in May of 2004.

So this was the last trip that we took with your father.

And I am thankful that we had that trip, and that we had that before all of it happened.

(gentle music) My name is Ed Hardin.

I am the chairman of the board and president of COSPO, which is an acronym standing for Children of Slain Police Officers killed in the line of duty.

So my name is Scott Thurmond.

I serve as chief of police for the Birmingham Police Department.

I've worked with the Birmingham Police Department for 25 years.

As a young teenager, I remember my dad talking about finding a profession that I enjoyed to go and do every day.

And so sitting at a desk wasn't for me.

And so being out, helping people, serving people, keeping people safe, was just something that excited me.

My dad was a Marine in Vietnam, and so the service has always been, I guess, in my family.

And so this was just something that excited me and something I knew I wanted to do from a young age.

In 1985, Mayor Richard Arrington and then Police Chief Arthur Dorrance called me and asked me to come by their offices to organize a fund, to provide support for children of Birmingham police officers killed in the line of duty so they could attend college.

So of course, the state and the federal government will pay money to the families, as well as the city of Birmingham.

But I think the thing that I always think of is, what's the long term?

That's an instant payment, but what happens long term?

They have to live the rest of their lives and care for their families and their children.

So how does that play out?

And so I think that's where COSPO comes in.

You know, to know that if I lose my life in the line of duty today, that my children's education is taken care of is a huge relief to me, and I know it would be a huge relief to my wife.

[Scott] Oftentimes when officers are killed, the children are very young and don't become college age until, you know, years passed the death of their parent.

And we try to stay in touch with them and let them know that they have a future, to study hard, make good grades, you know, so you can go to college.

You know, you could lose your life in this profession.

You know, so it really hits home when you see those things, and you have to go to those funerals.

And you experience that, man, I might lose my life doing this.

But it didn't stop me.

It didn't stop any of our officers from continuing to work hard every day and to work hard to save other people or protect them.

[Interviewer] When you say college expenses, that can run a wide range, so.

100% [Interviewer] 100%.

Food, transportation, housing.

State of Alabama has a fund that pays.

If you go to a state college, they will pay your tuition.

But that's just part of the expense.

I mean, the living expense is, it's where we step up and, you know, add to that support.

I think this past year we've spent right at 100,000 on our three students.

[Michael] The Birmingham Police Department has a museum with a wall of plaques remembering the 51 officers who have been killed in the department's history.

Today I'm meeting Sergeant Coleecia Cainion, the department liaison for the families who have lost a loved one in the line of duty.

So on the wall we have plaques that were made for all the officers that suffered in line of duty, that died in the line of duty.

In the history of the Birmingham Police Department.

In the history of the police department.

And it shows, to me, it shows that the wall represents heroism, because the officers paid the ultimate sacrifice.

They got up in the morning, came to work, put on the blue uniform to protect the citizens and the community of Birmingham, and they lost their lives.

Currently we're servicing, I have serviced four families.

So here we have Officer Charles Robert Bennett.

He was killed in 2004, along with Charlie Chisholm and Carlos Owens.

And we service his daughter, Caroline Bennett.

It's amazing because, according to here, these officers were killed in 2004.

-Yes, sir.

-And here we are, almost 20 years later, and COSPO is there eager to help them get through college, their kids get through college.

Yes, sir.

We face a lot of challenges here at the police department.

And our most recent one would be Sergeant Carter, for, you know, his bravery.

He was killed in 2019 in the line of duty.

[Michael] Mm-hmm.

What happened?

He responded to a call along with some more officers, and situation turned, took a turn for the worse, and he was killed trying to arrest the suspect along with the officers that night.

You knew him?

I did.

Yes, sir.

Mm-hmm.

Friend of yours?

Oh, he was a very good friend of mine and coworker.

And right now I am, you know, the liaison for his family.

And I've been standing in the gap since 2019 with the police department and his family.

[Michael] Tell me about his family.

Awesome family officer.

He has an awesome wife, Tiffany Carter.

At the time when Sergeant Carter was killed, his son, Taelen Carter, he was a student at Oak Mountain School, and now he's in college at the University of Alabama.

Oh, wow.

So he had a great mom and awesome father.

He come from a good family.

And he was an outstanding officer.

No problems while he was here at the police department.

Everybody loved Sergeant Carter.

It's just the- [Michael] Yeah, yeah.

Quite the responsibility for you to be there for his family -and kind of placed in there.

-Yes, sir.

Yeah.

So with the family I had to plan the funeral, and that consisted of officers from all 50 states.

So it was a big event for the police department.

Well, what does it mean to be the ones who are honoring his memory, not only his memory, but his children and his family, moving forward?

It means a lot.

Yes, sir.

It means a lot.

(somber music) (somber music continues) My name is Taelen Carter.

I'm a sophomore here at the University of Alabama.

I study criminal justice.

My dad was a sergeant at Birmingham Police Department.

His name was Wytasha Carter, and his end of watch was 2019 of January.

The thing I remember the most is his personality.

He's very outgoing.

I have a lot of his personality.

I hang out with a lot of people.

Very friendly.

So mostly I remember the naturing parts, the things he taught me that helps me now as I grow up.

I mean, I was 14, I think, so I was pretty young.

I was still a freshman in high school trying to figure out how high school works.

So still very young.

Basically, it was a guy that was on his third strike and just really didn't want to go back.

Things go wrong, and that's just the job, and you can't really choose and pick the night of who decides to do what.

So I learned about COSPO my senior year, I think.

My mom told me we were invited to some like, elegant dinner or something like that, and that these people like, wanted to pay for my schooling, which was really cool to hear about.

So this is a mural that my mom got made.

I wanna say the year was like 2020.

Really good painter got it done.

So that was something really nice and cherishable.

The last football game I went to with my dad.

I do have this right here.

So yeah, this was his promotion to sergeant.

So we all got together during the day, I think it was.

Yeah.

And when they saw everybody get promoted and get his badge of honor in the red and stuff like that.

Well, it's been four years.

So I mean, I guess you could say I have points where I'm sad, but I've never been the type to like, I'm not a crier, so I don't really cry.

But I mean, I can get pretty sad and like, just kind of close myself off to the world at times.

But outside of that, not much.

Usually 'cause I try to think of what he would want me to do in the situation.

And it wouldn't be to just sit and soak and mourn all the time.

So to keep me from being sad, or I guess if I'm not feeling myself, I play my drums.

So that's kind of a big part of who I am.

I like, do like, YouTube stuff for fun, so that kind of helps.

Play the game.

It's another one.

I like to play video games.

So something that me and him used to do all the time.

So I kind of still hold onto to that.

I think he'd say he'd be proud, 'cause I went to the university.

That was number one on my list when I first started.

When I was 14, he made me make a list of my top five schools.

So Alabama was number one.

So I got the academic process that he wanted me to do.

I joined Honors Society, something that he would've been proud of.

So I think overall that would be his words.

(gentle music) I'm Caroline Bennett.

This is my mom, Susan Bennett, and my dad was Robert Bennett.

So as far as what I remember about my dad, truthfully, not a lot.

I really don't have a lot of memories about him.

I kind of lived through the memories that I hear from my family and my mom.

I know he was a family man, loved God, loved his North Carolina basketball.

That's in fact what she was named after.

He wanted to name her Carolina, but I told him that was not a name.

That was a state.

And when she was born, I had gone to the store after we brought her home.

And when I came back, he had put all kind of North Carolina stuff around, saying I was born to be a Tar Heel.

But he loved his family.

So in 2004, June 17th, my dad was killed, and I was four, almost four years old.

I was at home sick and knew that there was, did not know that there was anything going on that day.

I received a phone call from somebody at work asking if Rob was okay, telling me that three officers had been killed in Ensley and just making sure that he was okay.

So that was the first time that I had even heard anything was going on.

From that phone call, it was within 30 minutes, Birmingham was at my door.

So in one aspect I didn't have to sit there and worry like some of the other family members of the other officers did for hours.

But I can just remember plain as day seeing the car pull up in the driveway, and me closing the door and going up the hall like that was gonna make it go away.

Having to go, my mom took me up to the daycare to pick up Caroline, and we sat down in the director's office.

You know, they loved Rob just as much as we all did.

They brought her in there and everybody's crying.

And I have to tell Caroline that her dad is gone to heaven, that we won't get to see him here on earth anymore.

And just the sweetest, childlike phrase, she just looked at me and said, "You mean my dad won't be here on my merry day?"

And we all just cried.

Your life has changed forever.

I thought my life was over.

33 and widowed with a 4-year-old.

But having a 4-year-old, you have to keep going.

You cannot just stop living.

And she is the one that would push me at times.

She didn't know it, but she did.

I would be driving home from work, I picked her up from daycare, and on the phone with one of my friends.

And I'll just start crying and pull in the driveway, and all of a sudden I get this hand on my back.

It'll be okay, Mommy.

It'll be okay.

And you talk about wanting to make that, that made the crying much worse.

But it's things like that that she didn't know what she was doing.

But she definitely kept pushing and kept me going.

(gentle uplifting music) (gentle uplifting music continues) So I knew I wanted to like, commemorate my dad in some way.

So I wanted to get a tattoo.

Like, I wanted something that was him.

And so I actually, this exact picture, I got an outline of it tattooed on my shoulder so I can always have him with me.

But yeah, it's that exact little outline of me and him just looking out at the ocean, so.

But.

Stop it.

(laughs) Within the first week of his death, he was a sergeant, Allen Treadaway.

But he was kind of our liaison, and he would bring the information, tell us that we were entitled to these benefits.

And at that time he said, "And as for college, you don't have to worry about that.

Her college will be paid for."

And he mentioned COSPO, but I mean think how many years there was between age 4 to age 18.

But that, I mean, her dad would be ecstatic about that.

He was very avid about your education.

He never went to college, but he wished he had, and he wanted nothing but the best for his little girl.

I was thinking about it the other day too in the sense that like, such a blessing was able to come out of such of a tragedy.

And it's one that I'm really grateful for.

It's like I had told you: Not a club that you wanna join.

Not benefits you even really want, but you're so glad that you have them.

Ever since I was quite literally four, afterwards, when Mom knew that my school would be paid for, right out the gate she's pushing, "You've gotta go to school.

You're gonna go to school.

You're gonna take advantage of all of this opportunity."

So there was never a question whether or not I was gonna go to college at all.

So I try and take as much advantage of the opportunity that was given.

Yes, so.

So for my first four years, I went to the University of Alabama, and I double majored in psychology and addiction recovery.

I graduated summa cum laude.

Proud of that one.

(laughs) And I have continued that journey.

I'm at Sanford University right now.

I have one more year left.

I'm studying clinical social work.

And I have been really blessed with a lot of awesome educational opportunities.

During my undergraduate years I worked in collegiate recovery, which helps individuals that are in college that are struggling with addiction.

When I went to Sanford, I spent the last year working with teen girls that have been human trafficked.

One of the big things as an ode to him that I'm doing currently is my research project for grad school is how first responders handle vicarious trauma.

And I'm doing that through Birmingham's police department.

So I kind of get to have that tie still with him of giving back to even his own personal department and seeing the ways that I can help them, so.

I don't think she would've been able to get as much education.

I mean, you certainly wouldn't have been able to go to Stanford for your master's if I was gonna have to pay for it.

But, you know, it enabled her to open doors for her education, to go to the best place to train her and to get her expertise and her knowledge and education that she needs to pursue her passion.

And there are no amount of words that I could say to thank them for what they did.

The end goal for the education is to give back to the community that's given me so much.

So I want to focus in trauma-informed therapy for first responders.

So all comes full circle.

(laughs) So yeah.

It's a great, great organization, is all I can say, and very thankful for it.

I would give everything back if we could have Rob back, but obviously we can't.

So we just go on and move on day by day, and we honor him.

Every day I know that I wake up and I do what I do to honor my dad and make him as proud as possible.

I know that he's proud of me.

I will say one of the hardest parts of the educational journey is knowing that someone who would be so proud of me doesn't get to attend graduations and be there for any inductions, any honors, anything like that.

So those are really hard moments that I hate that he has to miss.

But I know that he's there.

Birmingham's police department has been there to support me through it all.

I've had officers come to my graduations and stuff like that.

So I still know that he's being honored and his presence is still there.

COSPO has been a absolute blessing.

There's a lot of hardship and stress and financial stress that comes with higher education.

And getting to remove some of those stressors so that I can purely focus on doing the best academically that I can.

And that I hate that I had to have suffered and that we had to have lost him, but that I still get to go forward, live on, and pursue ways that I can help others through it all.

Yeah, I'm eternally grateful for everything that COSPO's done for my family.

-It's been amazing.

-Absolutely.

(no audio) (upbeat music) [Michael] Next time on "BUZZ," we will meet the nonprofit Studio By The Tracks.

Michael was born with what was called residual autism.

And I didn't even know what autism was when he was born.

When they told me he was autistic, I thought they meant he was artistic.

[Michael] And the marketing pro who is donating her company's time and talent to help both Studio By The Tracks and Children of Slain Police Officers achieve more buzz.

Well, in both cases we're gonna help Studio By The Tracks and COSPO isolate their message and come up with a really organized game plan for how to run a peer-to-peer campaign with a very clear campaign theme.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues)