The 100 Club Rocks!

EVERYONE should belong to The 100 Club! People piss $100 away on crap, why not save it up and send it to a greater cause? I've been a sticker-proudly-displayed-on-my-car member of The 100 Club of Houston, Texas for nine years and I feel good every time I send off the check knowing it's going to such a great organization completely dedicated to helping our fallen hero's families.


June 17, 2006, 3:32AM

100 CLUB
Its helping hand now extends to the entire state
1st new benefit given to family of DPS trooper killed in Hidalgo County
By RICHARD STEWART and POLLY ROSS HUGHES
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Eduardo Chavez was heading west near the Hidalgo-Starr county line just after noon on May 2 to help his brother and fellow state trooper, Enrique Chavez, who was holding two drug suspects at gunpoint.

The 30-year-old lost control of his patrol car, it rolled over and he was killed. He was the 81st Texas Department of Public Safety officer to die in the line of duty and the third this year.

That very day, the directors of Houston's 100 Club, who had yet to learn of Chavez's death, voted to extend their helping hands to families of fallen state officers all over Texas.

"This is a first for the 100 Club," organization president C.F. Kendall said Friday in a news conference at DPS headquarters in Austin. "We're happy to do it. We have no agenda other than to help the families of peace officers who are killed in the line of duty."

With an investment fund that has accrued $10 million, the club said it is expanding its line-of-duty benefits to families of DPS officers, Texas Parks & Wildlife game wardens, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agents and Texas Department of Criminal Justice personnel.

While that expands the number of potential beneficiaries by more than 44,300 state employees, officials said that in the past decade the average number of officers from all local and state law enforcement agencies killed in the line of duty is 15.

Chavez's widow, Iliana Chavez, who is expecting her first child next month, was the first family member of a fallen officer outside of an 18-county area around Houston to get benefits from the 53-year-old club.

"They were here the very next day," said Lt. Mario Lopez, Chavez's commander. The club gave the widow a $10,000 check and promised more.

"It meant a great deal that people cared," he added. While the state does provide insurance and other benefits for fallen troopers, there are always plenty of expenses to be borne by the family, Lopez said.

Officials of the 100 Club said that after an immediate award of $10,000 per family, they assign a team to determine special needs like children's educational expenses, medical costs for family members and other considerations. The goal is to help maintain a standard of living.

Kendall said the average total award per family ranges between $250,000 and $350,000.

A native of Edinburg, Chavez had been a trooper for three years and had been a Hidalgo County deputy sheriff for seven years before that.

"He was a good, loyal, professional officer," Lopez said.

The 100 Club was started in 1953 by a group of 100 people who donated $100 each to help families of fallen officers.

Since then the club has grown to more than 22,000 members and has raised more than $24 million. Gifts to families of fallen officers have totaled more than $7.5 million and hundreds of officers and departments have received educational grants and other equipment, such as bulletproof vests and armored vehicles.

Houston Chronicle reporter Polly Ross Hughes contributed from Austin.

richard.stewart@chron.com polly.hughes@chron.com

Take care......be safe.......