LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Las Vegas Fraternal Order of Police Foundation is a nonprofit organization run by law enforcement officers with the goal of helping other law enforcement officers in any way they can.
This month's Vegas Stronger Champion, Teodoro Mendez, Jr., has embodied that dedication across his 30-year career.
"You know, I'm a cop and, and I love just getting out there and helping and just, it's good for the soul, right? And that's kind of what we're doing," Mendez told Channel 13.
The mission of the FOP Foundation is fairly straightforward.
"It's just family. Cops helping cops, brothers and sisters helping brothers and sisters," Mendez explained.
The nonprofit was born out of 2018's 1 October tragedy in Las Vegas, when they supported all first responders by cooking meals for two weeks straight.
In addition to helping during disasters and emergencies, the Las Vegas FOP Foundation supports law enforcement officers as they deal with the aftermath of stressful situations they encounter on duty.
"I've said this before many times, our brain is not designed to witness so much trauma," said Sergio Martinez, director of the group, "so off-duty, there's still other stuff that they deal with, and we try to help them and provide peer support as well."
The Las Vegas FOP Foundation also works to find fellow law enforcement officers and their families who could use a hand, and Martinez says other cops often step forward to initiate help.
"Volunteers like Junior are the reason we're able to find some families that need help. He brought up a family that needed help during holidays, and we're able to provide some financial assistance to them and help for Christmas," Martinez added.
Martinez nominated Mendez, known to his friends as Junior, to be a Vegas Stronger Champion due to his enthusiastic support of the FOP Foundation.
"I know he's got a busy life, he's an active law enforcement officer, and he's got a family, and yet he still has time to help out off-duty, even sometimes on-duty," Martinez said.
Jeff Giles from Findlay Automotive Group surprised Teodoro Mendez, Jr. with a personal check for $599 and recognized him as this month's Vegas Stronger Champion for his tireless efforts to support fellow law enforcement officers.
"We at Findlay do something called Vegas Stronger Champions, and this month we want to highlight you for all the work that you've done in supporting our police and our retired police and also corrections officers," Giles told Mendez. "The support that you and your organization have been giving them is just incredible and it's so important, and we just want to give you a small token of our appreciation for what you do personally."
