This happened just minutes after he had told Erma he’d try to earn the $50 she needed to submit an application to computer school. At the time, police suspected that whoever killed Jamie intended to rob him. He became the third cabbie shot in the city that month, and his murder left six children without a father. Not long after Jamie Aponte was killed, Jerry Watkins, who was then one of the stable of volunteers who make Justice for Police Officer Danny Faulkner work, called Erma to tell her Maureen Faulkner wanted to give her $5,000 to put towards college. Erma told Jerry Watkins: “It shows my dad is still watching over me.”  (Watkins, himself a gem of a man, has since left this earth.)

I often wonder what else Jamie Aponte sees as he watches over Philadelphia. No doubt he’s watching a city still buckling under the weight of the violence that claimed his life – and left his daughter to earn her keep before she even applied to do so.

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Below is a short list of recipents each awarded the $5,000 grant.

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