25 Miles And Counting, Brick Girl Honors Fallen Heroes

BRICK, NJ — Morgan Blann stood, a black-and-white version of the American flag with a red stripe hanging from a flag pole over her shoulder.

Between her fingers, a photo of a dog. Not just any dog, however, this one is special: Balko was a cadaver dog, used to conduct searches of rubble for people who have died.

Morgan, a 12-year-old Brick resident, was talking about Balko and the service he provided to the St. Louis Fire Department, conducting nine successful searches during his three years as member of the department. It was the 10th search, however, that led to his death, Morgan said, after Balko fell out of a window while searching a condemned building for someone who reportedly had died.

The video, recorded by her mother, Lauren, was the 25th Morgan has done as part of her volunteer efforts for Running 4 Heroes, an organization that aims to honor first responders — both humans and canines — who die in the line of duty.

"People don't appreciate them (first responders) as much as they should," Morgan said Sunday evening after she completed her 1-mile run to honor Balko, the third K-9 she has run for but the first K-9 from a fire department. "And they're still out there making those sacrifices for us."

Morgan first got involved with Running 4 Heroes in August, after someone contacted her mother about the group. Morgan said she had been raising funds for protective vests for K-9s in law enforcement, and the opportunity to honor those who died in duty "was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."

"I've had a passion for law enforcement since I was 6 years old," she said.

Morgan, who started doing the 1-mile runs in September, is one of a handful of kids around the country who do the memorial runs. They carry a flag during the run, and the flag is then presented to the family of the fallen officer.

Running 4 Heroes also raises funds to support the families whose loved ones have died, and to assist families of officers injured in the line of duty. It has raised more than $500,000 since 2019 to provide assistance.

"It's my way of giving back to these families," Morgan said, adding that some families have come out to support her on runs for other first responders. Most of the time, the families are connected with her through videos of the run and her comments honoring their loved one, and the flags she runs with are delivered to those families.

Some, however, she's able to deliver personally. Lauren said one of Morgan's recent runs was for Temple Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald, who was killed in February, and they are working out the details for Morgan to deliver the flag from that run to his family soon.

But Sunday evening, it was all about Balko. She ran four laps around the parking lot at Emma Havens Young Elementary School, accompanied by four friends who came out to support her, and by Brick police officers, firefighters from Pioneer Hose and Laurelton Fire companies — in honor of Balko's status as a fire K-9 — and Ocean County Sheriff's Officer Christine Casullo and her K-9 partner Fiona, with sirens and lights turned on.

Pioneer Hose Company Fire Chief Joe Licandro said they reached out to Lauren and Morgan to help when they heard she was running to honor Balko.

"We were proud to support what she's doing," he said.

Morgan said she expects to keep running for the foreseeable future. The organization has its runners graduate out at 16 years old, to bring in new young runners to carry the flags and the tradition.

By then, Morgan hopes to be well into her studies to become a police officer. She aims to attend the Academy of Law and Public Safety at the Ocean County Vocational School.

"I want to be a K-9 officer," she said.