Efforts by members of the Park Ridge Police Department to help the family of an officer during his military deployment two years ago have earned the department a second award from a volunteer organization.
The police department is the recipient of the Pro Patria Award from the Illinois chapter of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve program. Mike Holub, vice president of the Illinois Committee of ESGR, presented the award during a recent meeting of the Park Ridge City Council.
The award recognizes the Park Ridge Police Department for assisting the family of Officer Emery Taylor while he was serving in Afghanistan between 2019 and 2020. Last year, four individual members of the department — Police Chief Frank Kaminski, Cmdr. Robert Kampwirth, Cmdr. Rich Ryan and Sgt. Mario Faso — were presented with Patriotic Employer Awards from the organization for their individual efforts in reaching out to Taylor’s family.
“Because these nominations were so strong, the committee at the Illinois level recognized them and then moved them up into a higher level of recognition that went beyond the individuals and encompassed the entire department,” Holub explained. “The Pro Patria Award is one of our highest in the state of Illinois.”
According to ESGR, the Pro Patria Award is presented annually to one small business, one large business and one public sector employer in the state for their support of employees who are members of a National Guard or military reserve unit.
It was Taylor who reached out to ESGR in November 2019, nominating his four superiors for the Patriotic Employer Awards. He credited them for making sure his family was looked after, which included visits to his home, time spent playing with his three children, purchases of Halloween costumes for his children, making sure the family’s lawn was mowed, and marking social holidays for which Taylor could not be present.
During a 2019 National Night Out event, Taylor’s then-5-year-old son, dressed in a police uniform, was invited by the department to stand in for his father in a group photo, which was then mailed to Taylor.
“They made sure they did all they could do to support his family in his absence,” Holub said of the department’s members.
Taylor this month called his award nominations “a small token of something I could do to give back to them for what they gave to me while I was deployed.”
“All of (what they did) was really special,” he said. “To me, the biggest thing was just having a couple of the guys from the department come over and play with my kids for a couple of hours. They provided that father figure, even for the limited amount of time they were there. They helped keep everybody a little more sane and kept things together while I was gone.”
For Taylor’s wedding anniversary to his wife, Michelle, Chief Kaminski had a cookie bouquet delivered to Michelle, Taylor said.
“Those little things really helped out,” he said. “I couldn’t be there, but somebody cared.”
Taylor, a captain with the U.S. Army’s Illinois National Guard, was deployed to Afghanistan for about nine months, he said. He has been with the Park Ridge Police Department for nearly four years.
The ESGR is a volunteer organization that helps educate employers and their employees about their obligations and expectations during National Guard or reserve deployment, Holub said. ESGR also works to recognize employers that go above and beyond to accommodate and support employees during their military service.
“We tell the service members, if something goes wrong, you’ll probably call us to help us mediate it, but when it goes right, don’t take your boss for granted. Recognize them,” Holub said.
ESGR is encouraging Taylor to nominate the Park Ridge Police Department for the Secretary of Defense National Freedom Award, Holub said. Only 15 of these competitive awards are given each year, he said.
Taylor said he is planning to prepare this nomination.
“I could never truly repay them for what they did for me and my family, but what I can do, I’m more than willing to,” he said.
