Many may know him as the Officer who worked at you or your child's middle or high school. Others may best know him simply as "@OfficerCraig on TikTok", or the Officer who raised nearly $50,000 as a tip for a pizza delivery driver, after he witnessed him walk over a 1/2 mile to make a delivery in a snowstorm. Only to receive a two-dollar tip. Officer Richard Craig was outraged by the lack of empathy and generosity of the tipper and used his platform (of over 160,00 followers) on TikTok to raise these funds as a "tip". An act of generosity not seen by many.

As a School Resource Officer (SRO), Officer Craig, aka: "Lieutenant Craig" has been a positive role model to countless young men and women over the years. He is very good at his job, His work has been covered many times by local and national news outlets, including multiple appearances on CNN and NBC. According to Google he was named "SRO of the Year" over multiple states along with other awards and accolades. He is clearly someone who has a passion in making the world a better place. He is exactly what you want a police officer to be, and I have seen few who can match his passion and dedication to not only his job, but to his kind heart and passion of helping others. His long career has been one of selfless dedication to helping and supporting those in need. Many times, out of his own pocket. Right now, HE is the one who is in need of some help and support. I hope you can join me in giving Officer Craig the help and support he and his family needs.

He is like many others in law enforcement and would never ask for any help or support. Never. I just read an article talking about people who are known for helping others and are accustomed to helping others; how often times they cannot and refuse to ask for help when they need it themselves. It just won't happen.

I know he won't ask anyone for help. But I know he needs our help. For those of you who know him and his servant heart, to please help support him and his family at this time.

If you are one of the many who follow @OfficerCraig on TIkTok, you know that many of us had grown to become big fans of his nightly livestreams. With everything from his love for his Indianapolis Colts, Pacers and all things Indiana sports, to sharing personal stories from his incredible life experiences in law enforcement and before. But there is always one thing that is consistent: Be a better human. No matter what he talks about, he always has one common theme: LOVE and KINDNESS. Two things he says we all can do better with. Personally, his live streams would often be the highlight of my day. For someone I've never met in person, I've always looked forward to his livestreams to hear his words of encouragement, advice, wisdom, or sometimes high-blood pressure rants about his beloved Colts. So when he abruptly stopped streaming and went "radio silent", many of us became very worried. And for good reason. Last week, he went LIVE for the first time in many months. He briefly shared a little info regarding the reason his absence. And for this: is why I am asking for help and support from his other followers, former students, parents, co-workers, community members,etc. Anyone who knows Officer Craig, knows how great his impact has been.

Officer Craig (and his family) lost their home, with much of their belongings. Sadly, just days later, he was abruptly fired from the school police department he dedicated 5 years to in helping build. He had shared stories many times how he knew his new Chief had a vendetta against him and clearly did not like him. Even to the point of prohibiting (just him) from continuing to make positive, social media content which Officer Craig was widely known for. This was even after the district and school board had just given him an award and commendation for his positive work on social media, just months earlier. This same person gave Officer Craig a reprimand for his fundraising efforts for the delivery driver. A rare, but positive, news story about law enforcement and covered by the media worldwide. (People magazine, Today show, Inside Edition, etc). It was a feel-good story covered as far away as Australia, Japan and India. A story so rare in kindness, that it even came back to life just a month ago. Apparently, his Chief was the only person in the world who did not like this story. What is there not to like and support?

Officer Craig said he communicated fully with his Chief what was going on, after taking PTO days off in the wake of losing their home. After 3 days off, he told his Chief he needed a week off and inquired to his Chief the process to apply for FMLA. Not only had they just lost their home, but there were also family medical issues going on at the same time. He said his Chief gave him instructions on who to contact, and HR told him he was eligible, for multiple reasons. His Chief fired him a day later for "no call, no show" before he could file the actual FMLA paperwork. So a Lieutenant who often worked over 12 hours a day, every day in the first couple years while building a new police department, just one day woke up and "abandoned" his job??? The same guy who was given multiple awards and accolades during that same time??? Doesn't make any sense to me.

What does make sense to me, is a guy found an opportunity to wrongfully fire and "kick" a subordinate who was "down" at their lowest point. Officer Craig handled this better than most, I believe. Many of us believe he still needs to hire legal counsel and fight back; however, they have much bigger challenges at the moment.

Losing his home and his job in the same week has led him and his family to a position I could never begin to imagine. He has spent every dime he ever saved, including his retirement account. Him he wife, daughter and two small dogs have lived out of his wife's small car for months while bouncing from AirBnB to cheap hotel room. This is no way to live for anyone. It hurts my heart to think about being in that position.

Currently, they have exhausted any and all resources and have no family that can help.

My goal is to do a fundraiser to help a man and his family, who has spent a career, selflessly helping others. My hope is to raise enough to cover rent, utilities, food for a month at least. They are renting a house now, but without our help, are at currently at risk of being displaced again, but this time without means of a hotel or AirBnB. I hope to raise enough to cover not only his bills but hopefully enough he can start his podcast and website he has talked about for so long. If we can give a family this gift of relieving them of impending stress and worry, he can focus on starting this next chapter of life and his career without the stress and worry that is clearly taking an emotional and physical toll on our favorite police officer.

They lost most everything. He said they aren't "starting over" but "starting new", and I like that. He called it "the next chapter" of their lives. No matter what its called, they need our help to get life back in order, much sooner other than later. Many people couldn't continue to go on after something like this. However, Officer Craig isn't that guy. But that doesn't mean he should have to do it alone. He would never ask for our help, and he is far too kind to speak ill of anyone, even if it was deserved.

We need MORE Officer Craig's in the world, not LESS. What he and his family have gone through the past few months and going thru now, struggling to survive day to day, just feels wrong. We need him out there spreading his kindness, love and wisdom, while helping kids and others in this world like he does! I want to kickstart his process and hopefully you do too!! I have a feeling things have been much harder for him and his family than he will say to anyone. If you know him, or you agree we need more kind humans like him in this world,

PLEASE donate something.

I can imagine the positive impact he would make with just a dollar from a 1/4 of his followers. I know there are others out there who care about him like we do. Let's show him our love and support, and show him how important he, and his work, is to the world!

I hope this can be the jumpstart needed to get him back to being that bright positive light our world needs so desperately. Share with others who are willing to help a good man and his family. He deserves every little bit and more.

Help if you can. If you can't, your prayers are encouraged as well.