MISSION STATEMENT

Les has served as Team Leader for the Missouri Law Enforcement Funeral Assistance Team since 2010.  As Team Leader, he oversees the regular activities of the team and works with as many as 20 volunteers on the team to assist law enforcement agencies and families with line of duty deaths (LODD). While assuming overall responsibility for ensuring that the families wishes are included in final honors, the unsung heroes are the team members who plan and execute the detailed and precise plans that go into a line of duty death funeral service.  Les is the primary contact for agencies and families to ensure continuity and is responsible for introducing them to outside organizations that the Team partners with who are also there to assist them through this difficult time.   He regularly presents to law enforcement associations and agencies on how best to prepare for a LODD and how the Team can assist them when tragedy strikes. No matter how many times he sees it or how prepared he thinks he is, Last Call and Taps get him. “It is such a powerful few minutes that evokes so many emotions, sometimes you just have to walk away for a moment.”   Even though through tragedy, Les says he enjoys the many friendships he has developed with survivors as a result of honoring their hero. Les has served in law enforcement and criminal justice for over 23 years with various agencies.

Kim has been a member of the Missouri Law Enforcement Funeral Assistance Team since 2019. She joined the team because she wanted to use her planning and organizational skills to have an active part in providing final honors for her brothers and sisters in blue who have made the ultimate sacrifice. With 31 years of law enforcement experience, Kim has attended many law enforcement funerals. She believes one of her most important responsibilities with the team is helping to maintain a 24-hour vigil with our fallen before they are laid to rest, and while never easy to hear, she considers the last radio call to be the most meaningful portion of the final honors. Although it is never good to get the call for a team deployment, Kim enjoys the camaraderie of the team, the ability to laugh with them in the midst of sadness, and the opportunity to help the family, both blood and blue, of the fallen in the most practical of ways during their hour of need.

Randy joined the Missouri Law Enforcement Funeral Assistance Team in November, 2014. He is currently a patrol deputy with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, and serves on their Honor Guard Unit. Randy has an extensive background in communications and mobile technology. He believes the rendering of final honors for a fallen officer to be one of the most important, and least talked about, duties of the job. It’s important to him, to ensure that survivors know they are not, and never will be alone – their loss is felt by all who wear the badge. He has been on nearly every line of duty deployment the Team has been called upon to assist with, including two of his own.

Joel has a great passion for honoring our fallen heroes who have died protecting our friends, families, and neighbors.   His passion to honor the fallen stems from 19 years in law enforcement and experiencing firsthand, the effect a line of duty death has on family.  After losing his brother in the line of duty in 2007, Joel decided to become a member of the Missouri Law Enforcement Funeral Assistance Team and has served since 2014.  Prior to joining the funeral team, Joel served as Vice-President of the Missouri chapter of COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors) for two years.  He brings knowledge, professionalism, and a personal understanding of the grieving process to the team.  The greatest objective of the group is to honor the fallen with the utmost respect and to provide comfort to the family and agencies affected by the tragic loss.  The most rewarding part for Joel is knowing that we did our part in honoring these men and women for the heroes they are.

David joined the MOLEFAT family in 2018 when he attended a training event held in Kansas City.  David has served as a Missouri Conservation agent for twelve (12) years in the Missouri Ozarks in Van Buren.  He has a family of six (6) and enjoys the rural Missouri life adventuring in the outdoors daily.

David has a passion for public service and for those that serve.  The impact David wants to leave with fallen officers and their families is that they remember they are not alone in the struggle of loss.  David desires to just be present and helpful to the team and develop relationships across Missouri supporting our family of LE and first responders.  The first funeral David attended was of a fallen MSHP trooper.  Honoring our fallen and their families has been important to him ever since.

Josh has been a member of the Missouri Law Enforcement Funeral Assistance Team since 2020. Josh has been a police officer with the Springfield Missouri Police Department for 14 years and serves on their Honor Guard detail. He believes the work the team does delivers grieving agencies and families the chance to step back and focus on their inward healing instead of the pomp Officers most certainly deserve. Josh is proud to be part of a group of individuals who drop everything in their professional and personal lives for days or weeks at a time to ease the burden of another. There are different challenges for each funeral but no matter how many funerals you attend there is always a moment in the organized chaos that gives time for personal reflection. Though the team members may use the funeral planning as their coping mechanism, when the time comes for the funeral it becomes all business. A business that Josh believes is deserving of our time.

Heather has been a member of the MOLEFAT family since 2018.  She was introduced to the team after a local officer was injured in the line of duty and she felt the intense urge to help raise funds for his recovery.  As a civilian, she is unable to deploy each time, she works hard to assist from home, making calls and tracking down information.   Mrs. Mata has been involved in Law Enforcement for nearly 20 years.  She met her husband in the police academy in 2005 and they married in 2006.  Schedules and overnight shifts served as an impossible way to raise a family and so she moved on to a different career.  She is currently working on an "End of Watch" booklet for each officer to fill out to relieve the stress on family members should the unimaginable occur.  Although not always on site Heather feels the heartbreak and stress of her fellow team members.  The last call and observing the family is the hardest part of the entire process for her.  She says it is an honor to play a small part in our Hero's story and to be with the family while they navigate the unknown.

Steve has been a member of the Missouri Law Enforcement Funeral Assistance Team since 2023. Steve recently retired as a Lt. from the Blue Springs Police Dept after 34 years. Steve was a long time instructor  for his agency and other entities in and out of law enforcement.  He served in many capacities during his career but one that he felt compassionate about was as family liaison between the department and family when a death occurred in the agency.  While it is a difficult time for all involved, he was glad to ease the burden from the family and his agency.  Steve has also assisted with many law enforcement funerals running the “Tail Car” for escorts.  He also is a proud member of the Patriot Guard Riders, escorting and honoring military and first responders who have died. For him, the driving force to be a member of the Team is the desire to serve and ensure our fallen heroes are honored properly.  Steve says “The emotional effect I get seeing the family being handed a folded flag, and last call signifies the greatness of honoring a hero and the honor to the family.  Very seldom is there a dry eye.”