Her name is Pat Tucker, widow of Wake Sheriff's Deputy Mark Tucker, who was gunned down during a routine stop Feb. 12, 2004.

She recalled what it was like when his fellow officers came to tell her the news.

"I was looking at them like, 'What? You said Mark's been shot and killed?' "

The next several days were a whirl of calls and visits from people who knew and loved Mark.

Strangely, it was a visit from a couple she did not know and had never met that she often recalls with particular gratitude.

Mark Tucker was killed on a Thursday. On Friday, Richard and Patti Hale called to see how Pat was holding up.

On Saturday evening, they appeared on her doorstep.

Of all people, the Hales knew what Tucker was going through.

In July of 1997, they lost their son, Detective Paul Hale, in a shooting in Southeast Raleigh. He, too, was on the job. Since his death, the Hales have become ambassadors of comfort to folks in similar straits.

But they don't stop with a hug and tears of understanding. They also bring money to get the surviving family members through those first awful days and weeks.

They call it The 200 Club of Wake County.

The Hales based their idea on the 100 Club in their native Detroit, an organization Richard Hale heard about because his father was an inspector with the Detroit Police.

After experiencing the outpouring of public support after their son's death -- Hale still gets choked up thinking about the people lining the roads into the cemetery -- the couple knew the organization would quickly gain support here.

They had a clear idea of its operation and mission. A yearly membership is, as the name suggests, $200. But the club will certainly accept smaller amounts.

The group is wholly volunteer-operated, so Hale estimates that 96 cents out of every dollar goes to the family members.

"We wanted it to be word of mouth," Richard Hale said. "We didn't want to be selling hot dogs or using telemarketers."

Instead, the Hales have appealed to, and relied upon, the genuine feeling of gratitude most of us feel toward those who put themselves in harm's way to keep us safe.

Folks like Trooper Horniak, who was shot at the same mile marker where two other law enforcement officers were killed in the 1990s.

Horniak, fortunately, survived.

But in its five years of operation, the 200 Club has helped the families of five Wake County officers who weren't so fortunate.

The most recent was Firefighter Todd Alan Blanchard of Eastern Wake Fire and Rescue, who died in July.

Deputy Mark Tucker came before that.

Pat Tucker said she had no idea at first how much the assistance from The 200 Club would help. But it was weeks before her husband's final check arrived. She had a mortgage to meet.

Now Tucker is a member of the club herself.

For more information about The 200 Club, visit www.200clubwakecounty.org.