Coop’s Troop will honor the memory of Cooper Richard, 3, with a fundraiser rally in The Cottage Bar in Columbian Square on Sept. 24, from 6:00-10 p.m. to benefit the Coop’s Troop Foundation.
The non-profit organization was founded in March 2015 by relatives and friends of Cooper’s family to support the family after then 15-month old Cooper was diagnosed with GM-1 gangliosidosis. The terminal genetic disorder progressively destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Cooper passed away from the disease in January 2017, and his family has honored the boy by administering Coop’s Troop.
Cooper’s father, Michael Richards, said Cooper was the youngest of four siblings who all attended St. Francis while their brother was ill.
“The support from St. Francis could not have been better for our children,” he said. “I could talk for hours about what they did.”
Councilor-at-large Fred Happel said St. Francis Xavier provided meals and gift certificates to Cooper while the boy battled the illness.
“Our kids went to school with the Richards kids,” said Happel, co-chairman and founder of the Irish Heritage Day committee. “I coached the Richards’ son, Max, in flag football when Cooper was sick.”