ALTON - St. Mary's Catholic Church and School are blessed with an abundance of firefighters/police officers. In the photo above, are some of those people and their children who attend St. Mary's.

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One of their parishioners, Godfrey Fire Protection District Capt. Jake Ringering, recently died in a tragic Bethalto fire. Ringering's funeral service and visitation were both held at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Alton last week.

St. Mary's Rev. Jeremy Daniel Paulin said Ringering's death was very personal for those in the congregation and school. He said they are big supporters of the MustacheMarch4PD campaign.

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“Father Jeremy Daniel Paulin and St. Mary’s Church and School are huge supporters of MustacheMarch4PD,” Tina Bennett, a coordinator of MustacheMarch4PD, said at the gathering at the school to showcase the first responders and their children. “Father Jeremy also participates in our MustacheMarch4PD campaign. He wanted to show their support by gathering all the first responders.”

“The death of our parishioner - Capt. Jake Ringering - was personal to me and everybody in the parish, the city, and entire area,” Father Jeremy said. “This really drives home the sacrifice these men and women make for us day in day out and the tremendous inspiration they are for all of us. It makes me think I have a lot to live up to with what these men and women do on a daily basis.”

The MustacheMarch4PD are selling T-shirts, decals for Capt. Ringering and Warner’s families. The annual MustacheMarch4PD gathering is March 22 at Bluff City Grill.

For more on MustacheMarch4PD, visit:

#MM4PD#MustacheMarch4PDDan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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