BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — After losing her husband, one California Highway Patrol widow found a way to turn her grief into giving back. Now, an annual fundraiser is raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for families who have also lost a loved one in the line of duty.
Shannon Ehly is the force behind the annual "Tips for Chips" fundraiser. Ehly lost her husband, CHP Officer Mark Ehly, in 2010. Months later, she was approached with an idea to honor him.
"It was presented to me a couple of months after Mark passed away with West Side Rotary. Jim Darling approached me and wanted to do Tips for Chips and honors for Mark. And I said, absolutely," Ehly said.
Tips for Chips puts CHP officers to work serving food and drinks, all to raise money for the CHP Widows and Orphans Trust Fund. For Ehly, it was a chance to give back to the same organization that once stepped up for her family.
"And all I could think of was, I would love... And they said, you can give the money to anybody you want. And I thought, I would love to give back to the Widows and Orphans Fund of the CHP, whom I just received a check from, and I thought, I would love to do that. And we ended, we were able to give back so much more than what I received," Ehly said.
This year alone, the fundraiser brought in more than $58,000.
But Ehly says the power of this event isn't just in the money raised. It's in a community that continues to show up.
"I mean, our community shows up. When you enter this building for Tips for Chips, you can't explain it to anybody. You can't explain what they're going to see or what the energy is going to be. You have to experience it," Ehly said.
Seventeen years later, Tips for Chips has raised more than $590,000.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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