BIDDEFORD -- Biddeford’s leaders, past and present, are organizing a fundraiser next week that they hope will raise as much as $25,000 for the family of a local police officer who died last month.

Biddeford Mayor Martin Grohman and Saco Mayor Jodi MacPhail, along with former Biddeford mayors Alan Casavant and Donna Dion, will join Mayors Night Out on Feb. 5.

Patrons may use a QR code displayed at 14 restaurants throughout the city. Many of the restaurants are also pledging a percentage of their regular profits for the evening.

The money will go to the wife and three children of Biddeford Police Sgt. Jacob Wolterbeek, who died in a December 2024 car crash on his way home from work. 

“It almost didn’t seem like it was real,” Grohman said Tuesday. “I think some people still feel that way.”

Grohman said Wolterbeek, an 18-year veteran of the department, was well-known and well-liked in the city. 

Wolterbeek went out of his way, Grohman said, to connect with the public, such as volunteering to provide security details on Election Day so he could see and meet as many residents as possible.

“You know, he was really woven into the fabric of the Biddeford community, and, you know, we miss him,” Grohman said. 

Grohman said he believes the event can raise as much as $25,000 for Wolterbeek’s family.

For a full list of restaurants participating in the event, visit its Facebook page here.

Anyone who would like to donate but cannot attend may do so by visiting the website for the Trooper Black Foundation. The nonprofit, which helps police officers and their families, will be taking donations on behalf of the Wolterbeek family through Feb. 15.  

Anyone who cannot donate online may also mail checks to the foundation at PO Box 104, Cape Neddick, Maine, 03902, and mark the donation as designated for the Wolterbeek family.