The dinner Wednesday for a police officer killed in the line of duty raised over $10 thousand dollars for his widow.

It was at the Ponderosa in Lansing for Jeff Kocab, an Everett High School graduate who once worked at the restaurant with his future wife Sara.

Owner Dennis Holleran rallied former co-workers and his own kids who were close friends of the Kocabs.

"He came up with the idea and we all joined in immediately, said Paul Holleran, who worked with Jeff Kocab and was his good friend. "My brother is here, my sister is here-- we just all said, 'We're there.'"

Holleran says Kocab was outgoing and was a huge hit with customers-- especially children. He met his future wife Sara when they were both servers there in 1995-1998.

Many customers who remembered both Jeff and Sara returned for a meal and to offer a final salute to the kid who became a police officer in Tampa, Florida.

"There was a customer I was reminiscing with for about five minutes about Jeff," he said. "The statement "had a zeal for life"-- that would have been Jeff."

Thirty-five percent of that $10 thousand dollars was in donations according to organizers.

Kocab, 29, was shot and killed during a traffic stop last week in Tampa along with another officer, David Curtis.

You can also donate to their families by ordering t-shirts that read "Support Tampa." Call Dawn Teall at (517) 930-3984 for more information on how to get a t-shirt.