Husband and wife cops comfort people suffering tragic loss

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Officer Noah Bennett has attended more memorial services over the last two years than he ever expected. To each of the bereaved, he brings condolences and a handmade gift for the deceased -- many of whom he has never met.

"It's very personal to me since I'm an officer in the North Las Vegas PD," Bennett said. "These are my brothers and sisters getting killed in the line of duty and I know what that feels like."

Bennett, along with his wife Rosonna Garvey, personally make and hand deliver wood-engraved memorial plaques adorned with crosses and Bible verses to commemorate fallen police officers and victims of tragic deaths.

They started making the plaques in 2012 to honor the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. Bennett, who was on vacation at the time, came home to find Garvey crying on the couch.

"She said we had to do something to help, so we decided to use our woodcarving talents and we came up with Hearts and Crosses," Bennett said, referring to the name of the nonprofit they formed.

Since then the couple has donated more than 30 plaques, delivering them to memorial services across the country.

"When I talk to the friends and family members at the funerals, they say to me that it just means so much to them because of the time, the heart, and the love we put into the plaques," Bennett said. "We're not doing this for profit."

The wooden plaques are engraved and stained using borrowed equipment in a borrowed workshop, and the couple often only has a few days to finish the plaque before delivering them to the funeral or memorial service.

Both active North Las Vegas Police Department officers, Bennett and Garvey sometimes take time off and stay up all night to finish a plaque. They never mail their work, preferring to deliver the plaques, along with their condolences, in person.

When two NYPD officers were shot while sitting in their patrol car in December, JetBlue Airlines donated a flight so Bennett could deliver a plaque to Officer Rafael Ramos' funeral service.

Last year, the couple drove six hours to Arizona to deliver a plaque to the family of 24-year-old Flagstaff Police Officer Tyler Stewart who was killed responding to a domestic violence report.

And when Las Vegas Search and Rescue Officer David Vanbuskirk died nearly two years ago after falling from a helicopter hoist line, the couple spent two days designing, engraving, and staining a large memorial plaque for the burial site as well as a smaller cross for Officer Vanbuskirk's wife.

"When we go into plaque-making mode...doing the woodworking, we'll work until 6:00 in the morning," Bennett said.

But this week may be the last time Bennett and Garvey engrave a plaque. The family members that own the engraving equipment are moving away and taking their tools with them, forcing Bennett and Garvey to shutter Hearts and Crosses.

To continue their work, Bennett and Garvey are raising money to buy new equipment and rent their own workshop. They are selling t-shirts and soliciting friends and family through Facebook.

Langley Productions, creators of the TV show "Cops," offered to match all donated funds up to $30,000 after they met Bennett and Garvey when the couple donated a plaque in memory of Bryce Dion, a "Cops" crew member who was killed while filming a police shootout in Omaha, Nebraska.

"This is a passion for me and my wife," Bennett said, "We just want to keep doing what we've been doing."