Donate to Keep Kansas Troopers Safe

My name is Jason Gill, and I'm a lieutenant for the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office. One of my hobbies is boating, and I travel through southeast Kansas several times a year on my way to or from Table Rock Lake. Last weekend I went over there and stayed the weekend with friends. On Monday January 20th I was returning home, and I was on 400 highway about 15 miles east of Neodesha. While I was passing a slower vehicle, I struck a large chunk of a truck tire with both of my passenger side tires. The back tire started going flat so I pulled over and prepared to start changing it. I drive a truck so you have to lower the spare with a cable system. A cold front had dropped temps to 16 degrees, and the wind was blowing hard. I was already frozen by the time I started to lower the spare. A Kansas Highway Patrol trooper pulled up right as I was starting, and he retrieved some tools out of his trunk to help. We changed the tire together (ok he did most of the work), and we got it done a lot faster than I would have been able to do by myself. When we were working on putting the 8 lug nuts back on, the trooper mentioned he would like to get a battery powered impact to help get people back on the road faster. In our haste to get out of the cold, I did not get the trooper's name or K number. I used some of my personal contacts at KHP to identify him as Trooper Branden Bales, K23.

On my way home I kept thinking about how much Trooper Bales helped me get back on my way, and it occurred to me that I see the troopers from Troop H stopped assisting motorists on literally every trip I take through that area. If you go to Table Rock and live in the Wichita area, you more than likely drive right through their area. Vehicles, boat trailers and RV's leave shredded tires all up and down 400. It's a 2-lane highway for the most part, and sometimes it's hard to move over if someone is working on the shoulder.

When I got home I made a Facebook post about my interaction. I had several offers to help buy Trooper Bales an impact. A friend sent me a link for a "deal of the day" from Home Depot for a Milwaukee Impact with a battery and charger for $189. I also purchased some impact sockets. Turns out that was an excellent deal because it went back to $429 the next day.

I've run a fair amount of fundraisers for worthy causes in the past, so I decided to open it up to my friends to help raise enough money to buy an impact and some sockets for every trooper in Troop H. There are 16 troopers and 4 lieutenants in that Troop. I have one impact purchased, and through my Facebook friends I have $1,850 in my PayPal, Venmo, Cashapp and Apple Pay accounts. It would take about $5,500 more to pull off what I want to do.

I've been a supervisor for 18 years, and one of my main jobs is making sure the people under my command have the tools to do their job. Unfortunately there are some things I can't buy for my folks because our budget will only go so far.

Getting these troopers off the side of the road faster will make them safer, and you or your family and friends might benefit from them helping you. I know people who could pay for all of this themselves, but I also know the campaigns I've run like this in the past were funded primarily by $10 and $20 donations. Anything helps. If we happen to raise more than what is needed for 19 more impacts, I will pick another Troop to bless. Thanks for reading. Please help me reach this goal, and share this campaign even if you aren't able to contribute.