About Us!

The Virginia Law Enforcement Foundation

Welcome to the Virginia Law Enforcement Foundation website.  The VALE Foundation was founded in 2020. The idea to form the non-profit came from a law enforcement charity event and job fair that was organized by the founders every year beginning in 2017.  For all of us founders,  this is a dream come true and something we have worked extremely hard to achieve. VALE has a three-fold mission: we are committed to honoring fallen Virginia Law Enforcement Officers and their families by offering financial assistance and donations to law enforcement foundations in their name, supporting Virginia students actively enrolled in criminal justice/law enforcement related programs, and lastly we are committed to reducing the number of police suicides and plan to work with other agencies to do everything we can to offer the support and services needed to police officers, correctional officers, and all other areas of our law enforcement community.

Our Founders 

Romaine Cheney - Ms. Cheney is the driving force behind VALE.  She is the sister if Trooper Jessica J. Cheney, EOW January 17,1998.  Ms. Cheney is also the past president of the VA Chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors.  She has worked for many years in charity service to our law enforcement community.  Ms. Cheney comes from a law enforcement family.  Her father, mother, and sister all served with Virginia State Police in various capacities.  Ms. Cheney herself is a former 911 dispatcher with the Henrico County Police.  Ms. Cheney passed away on 07/23/2021.  

Keith Culver -  Mr. Culver began his law enforcement charity service in 2011 with the first Dunk-A-Cop event that raised funds for the Virginia Chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors. His passion for service to our law enforcement community lead to the creation of our annual event during police week in 2016. This event grew from a dunk-a-cop event to the job fair and fund raising event it is today. His dedication and commitment is directly responsible for the event growing each year.

Shanna Meeks - Mrs. Meeks joined our efforts late in 2019, and quickly came aboard to help plan our 2020 event to honor Officer Katie Thyne. When our event was cancelled due to the pandemic, Mrs. Meeks led our efforts to organize into a 501c charity. She tirelessly worked to get our documents and records filed so that we can obtain our 501c status. We would not be where we are today without her efforts.

Tyler Splan - Mr. Splan came to us in 2018 when he assisted in organizing our annual event during Police Week that year. This was the second year we included the job fair portion of the event. It was due to this event that Mr. Splan was able to realize his life long dream of becoming a law enforcement officer when he applied to and eventually was hired by the Henrico County Sheriff’s Office. Mr. Splan has a passion to help persons suffering through mental health and substance abuse issues.