New foundation supports families of Lorain officers shot last year, Huron County firefighter killed

NEW RUSSIA TWP. — A new local foundation gave more than $10,000 combined to the families of three Lorain police officers who were shot last year and of a Huron County firefighter who died while fighting a house fire. In July 2025, Lorain police officer Phillip Wagner, 35, of North Ridgeville was shot and killed while on duty in the city. Officers Brent Payne and Peter Gale were both seriously injured in the same shooting. Just under a month later, John Saunders, 41, of the Tri-Community Joint Firefighting Department in Greenwich died while fighting a blaze in Willard. At the inaugural event of the Bags for Badges nonprofit foundation on Friday at The Lodge of New Russia Township, the nonprofit honored the sacrifice of the families of all four men, and presented them with $10,000 in total donations. "I am so grateful for the continued support that we have received, even now, around 10 months since this tragedy happened," said Jessica Wagner, Phillip Wagner's widow. "It proves how much this community loves and supports all of their first responders, and their families as well." Bags for Badges was formed primarily by employees of UD Maintenance of Amherst, an ice removal company that also sells ice removal supplies across the U.S. UD Maintenance owner Kyle Urig is also a lieutenant with the Florence Township Fire Department, and he said he knew when his company got a new provider of ice melter salt, he wanted to use the sales of that product to support his fellow first responders and their families. "We didn't have a clear vision, at first, of what we wanted the nonprofit to do, we just knew we wanted to do something for first responders," Urig said. "But after all of that stuff happened (last summer), we said this is it, this is our calling. The cards just kind of fell into play almost by default really … I have a lot of mutual friends with all of these families, so it was a little nerve-wracking asking them to be a part of this, but I am extremely honored that they could all be here to accept their awards." For every bag of Wildfire Deicer that UD Maintenance sells, the company donates 25 cents to Bags for Badges and the manufacturer of the deicer donates 20 cents. That money will be used, as it was on Friday, to support the families of first responders killed or seriously injured in the line of duty. Payne and his wife Bailee were on hand with their two children to receive their award, as was Jessica Wagner. Lorain police officer Brandon Sayers accepted the award on Gale's behalf and Saunders' niece, Danielle Rieger, accepted the award for her family. "We are obviously very grateful for the support, but also the unexpected support," said Lorain police Officer Erica Fadenholz, also a close friend of Jessica Wagner. "We would never expect a maintenance company to help us. We expect it from, you know, the places we get our uniforms, our boots, our equipment, like the police world supports us. … But it is nice to see the unexpected support. It is not just the police community, it is everyone. It's the entire community." Urig said that Bags for Badges is actively looking for other potential recipients for donations, and that they could be anywhere in the U.S. The nonprofit has not yet formalized a request system, so Urig said those interested should reach out to the nonprofit or to UD Maintenance on social media. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.