A special gift for Pablo
Mercer County Sheriff’s Offi cers put together fundraiser
for their brother’s family
Members of Mercer County Sheriff ’s Offi cers Local 187 with Pablo Santiago’s wife Jennifer and daughter Ava after presenting a donation of funds raised
from selling bracelets honoring their lost brother.
Jennifer Santiago thought she was having a regular lunch with
the members of Mercer County Sheriff’s Officers Local 187 on this
Friday afternoon, Feb. 1 at Anthony’s Pizza Palace in Hamilton.
There figure to be many of these during the next months and years
as Local 187 helps raise the family of their beloved brother Pablo
Santiago, who took his own life on Dec. 26.
Three of the members who worked Squad B at Trenton-Mercer
Airport alongside Pablo – Ralph MacKelvey, Jeff Jantos and Mike
Mullen – took the lunch break with Jennifer and Ava, one of his
daughters. Local 187 State Delegate Pat Papero was also there.
And as Jennifer poked at a plate of pasta, she had no idea about
what was in store for dessert. McKelvey, Jantos and Mullen had been
spearheading a tribute for Pablo, a special fundraiser. And on this
day, they gifted her a donation from the proceeds of that tribute.
“We went through everything with him. This is a way to com-
memorate his life and everything he stood for,” Jantos declared. “It
hit us hard, and it’s a way to give back.”
The idea for the fundraiser came up on the day Santiago was lost,
a Wednesday. By Friday, MacKelvey had ordered 400 bracelets. One
side was inscribed with his name, his badge number 166, a cross
and the Mercer County Sheriff’s star. The other side depicted the
date of Pablo’s passing.
The initial order was sold at Saint Raphael School in Hamilton
and at the Jan. 9 NJ State PBA Board of Delegates meeting. MacK-
elvey put in another order, and more were sold at the Sikh Sabha of
New Jersey in Lawrence, where Santiago worked security one Sat-
urday a month and helped with the Sikh Coalition’s monthly service
project of cooking and serving food to those in need outside the
Trenton train station.
“Everybody is trying to step up to do everything they can to sup-
port our brother’s family,” MacKelvey added. “We will be there as
much as possible for Jennifer and her daughters. Doing this has
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■ FEBRUARY 2019
also helped us recover.”
When the Local 187 members presented the donation to Jenni-
fer, she was overcome with joy, passing out hugs just like Pablo used
to do every day to everybody. She was carrying on her husband’s
legacy.
“Enthusiasm, that was him – his contagious smile,” Jennifer said.
“He would make your day feel so much better. That’s what he was
about.”
Jennifer also shed some tears of joy when considering how Pab-
lo’s fellow members have taken care of her and daughters Ava and
Gianna. They have been attending family events like Ava’s dance
competitions. She had heard from her husband just how thick the
brotherhood was, but to see it on this day apparently was some-
thing even more spectacular.
“I can truly and honestly say that the love they have shown for
my family just never ceases to amaze me,” Jennifer added. “I didn’t
know what it was like until they all came together as a whole. I can’t
even put into words what they did for me. They really made me see
how true a family they are. It shows a lot about law enforcement
and the brotherhood my husband was a part of.”