On May 11, 1911, the officers of the Sacramento Police Department met to join the newly-formed Widows and Orphans Aid Association, the 1st Sacramento employee organization and one of the earliest employee groups in the West. In its formation, the five founding members formalized the time honored tradition of "passing the hat around" to help their partners in their greatest time of need.With initial business and community donations, the group sought to do the following: (1) attend to sick and ailing SPD officers, (2) provide emotional and financial support to surviving widows and orphans, (3) regularly advise the police chief on the welfare of the troops, and (4) advocate on job-related retirement and benefit legislation.The Board of Trustees established an original death benefit, based on annual dues of $13 and proceeds from their annual charity baseball game put into a managed account. Now over 100 years later, the member's beneficiary receives a much larger benefit, while the annual dues have remained unchanged. Under fiduciary care and prudent management, all benefits have been paid as promised, a cumulative amount over $1 million dollars.Today's trustees continue to faithfully carry out our mission and look forward to standing fraternally strong for another 100 years.