Anytime I hear the name of a non-profit foundation, I always wonder a couple of things – How did they pick the name of the foundation? What inspired them to start a foundation? I hope to answer both of those questions.
Who was Marcus Lee Zaruba?
Marcus Lee Zaruba was born May 16, 1980, in Baytown Texas. He died on June 28, 2009 at the age of 29. He was the youngest of three children born to Jim and Margie Zaruba. He attended Lee College and earned an associates degree in criminal justice. He then transferred to Sam Houston State University where he completed his Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice. He got married and then was hired by the Sugar Land Police Department, and graduated from the UH police academy. Late in April 2009, Marcus was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the GI Tract. It is a very rare form of cancer and even rarer for someone his age to develop this type of cancer. When it was discovered, it had already spread to his lungs, lymph nodes and liver. Starting the day that he was diagnosed, his co-workers at Sugar Land Police Department were there with him; from coming up to the hospital and making him laugh with their stories to bringing a gift basket with every snack food imaginable. Their generosity in collecting what they called "a little money" to help Marcus and his wife was overwhelming. They out did themselves, and all of that in just the first week. They then proceeded to plan a Car Wash. It was held the end of May at the police station with 100% of the proceeds going to help Marcus and his wife. Then, they planned a golf tournament. As life has its little twists, it was scheduled June 29th. Marcus passed away on the 28th. He had made his wishes known to his family and co-workers that life needed to go on without him. And honoring his wishes, they had the golf tournament, and it was very successful. And again, 100% of the proceeds went to help his widow with outstanding medical bills and funeral costs.
Marcus knew that the end was coming quickly. He wanted to take the burden off his family and he planned his funeral. He did everything, from picking the location to picking what officers he wanted as pallbearers, to what he would wear. Sugar Land police department stepped up once again and gave him the most honorable funeral that he asked for.There are many organizations around the country that do fundraisers for police officers that are killed in the line of duty. But, those don’t help an officer that develops a fast growing cancer, has a stroke or a sudden heart attack. We, as a foundation, want to make sure that all police departments have funds set up to help fellow officers, like Marcus; those who are blind-sided by life's unexpected twists. He had no idea that he would die at the age of 29, if he had, I know that he would have gotten more life insurance and picked the best health insurance that was offered, but like many young people, he was going to wait until he had children to make those decisions. We want to make sure that no other officer will be in need in the future. They risk their lives everyday for ours, and we want to show them how much we value them. Also, there are many people that aspire to become police officers. We hope to help some of those people achieve their dream by funding scholarships in the field of criminal justice. Our first scholarship will be at Sam Houston State University. Thus, we have the Marcus Lee Zaruba Criminal Justice Foundation, named after my younger brother and inspired by him and all those fellow officers who risk their lives everyday for each of us.To accomplish our two goals, we will be proudly sponsoring the Jail Break Run 1/2 Marathon. This will be an annual event in Baytown. What can you do to help?
Sponsorships: You or your business can be a sponsor for the Run.Door Prizes: We need door prizes. All participants' names will be entered in the drawing and the gifts will be handed out at the awards ceremony. Gifts In-Kind: We need items ranging from bottles of water, gator-aid or fruit, to providing the awards to the winners. There are many opportunities for gifts.You can find the information about Marcus and our foundation at our website: www.mlzcjfoundation.org.Thank you for your time in reading who we are and we hope you will join us in helping those police officers who so unselfishly dedicate their lives to others and helping those who would like to become officers one day. They are there when we need them, so let's be there when they need us.Sincerely,
Mary Katheryn Pinney
Jail Break Run Event Co-Director
Proud sister of Marcus Lee Zaruba
MLZCJ Foundation Secretary/Treasurer
Who we are
