YARMOUTH, Mass. (WHDH/AP) — A charity founded in honor of fallen Yarmouth police Sgt. Sean Gannon has awarded its first grants.
The Sean M. Gannon Memorial Fund of the Cape Cod Foundation recently awarded $3,000 in grants to five nonprofit organizations.
The initial recipients were Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape Cod & the Islands; the Boys & Girls Club of Greater New Bedford; Stonehill College; and YMCA Cape Cod, which received $500 apiece; and Westfield State University which received $1,000.
The Bigs in Blue program was a big part of Gannon’s life even though he rarely talked about it, according to Yarmouth Police Chief Frank Frederickson. A 13-year-old boy who Gannon mentored for three years received a plaque bearing the beloved sergeant’s name on Thursday.
“Sean humbly and quietly went about his business being a Big Brother, telling very few people,” he said. “Even his closest friends didn’t realize the extent to which Sean was involved in Big Brothers.”
The fund was created and named in honor of the Yarmouth K-9 officer shot and killed in April 2018 while serving an arrest warrant in Barnstable.
“To have the program named in honor of Sean, in my estimation, is probably the best honor that anybody has given him.”
The regional director of Bigs and Blue says Gannon made a lasting impact on the teenage recipient. He now hopes to become a K-9 officer.
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