ODESSA, Mo. — It was another busy Thursday night for the volunteers from Odessa's St. George Catholic Church.
Every month, church members cook and set up for a big community meal.
The mood is always light, it's warm, it's a place to heal. But Thursday night a memory hung heavy in the room.
"Well, we're mourning," Abby Volmer, a volunteer at the church, said.
Slain Officer Cody Allen's visitation was going on at the same time.
Since they were already set up, the idea was to give people a good meal before they went.
"We continue with things like this," Volmer said. "We continue with things like community and wrapping our arms around everybody."
She knew Allen well.
"So I was Cody's former teacher in middle school, and he was a sweet, sweet kid, smart," she said.
Her son knew him well.
"And he was a year older than my oldest son," she said. "And my oldest son is a firefighter and a paramedic. And so they bonded in kind of the brotherhood of civil service."
In a way it's a snapshot of how many in the Kansas City area and in Odessa are feeling.
"I know we'll go on, but we're not going to forget," Volmer said.
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