Monica Yant Kinney | Drop a dime, make a buck

A few months after their brother was stabbed to death, Kim Woodbury and Solomon Edwards realized a talent that dried their tears.

The siblings - she works for a pharmaceutical company, he's a SEPTA police officer - have a knack for party-planning.

On Aug. 25, their extended family threw an all-day "Capture & Conviction BBQ" at Fisher Park in Olney to honor Anthony Edwards, the city's 142d homicide victim this year.

Two hours into the party, a tipster called Solomon Edwards' cell phone, saying he'd give up the killer for the reward he knew was being raised at that very moment, because he'd read the flyer.

Three days later, two men were charged in the murder, thanks to that money-hungry informant, who later pocketed $3,000 for his tip.

Now, Woodbury and Edwards have launched "Captured & Convicted Fundraisers." The unusual nonprofit (pending IRS approval) helps families raise rewards to post with the Citizens Crime Commission of the Delaware Valley.

"Our slogan is: 'Every victim deserves justice. Every criminal deserves punishment. Every family deserves closure,' " Woodbury says.

Did the deceased sing? They'll stage a "Captured & Convicted Idol Contest."

Was the victim obsessed with poker? Choose a card tournament or casino trip, two of 40 events the group offers.

At a "Pantry Party," loved ones auction off home-cooked meals to raise big bucks to catch bad guys.

Joanne Boyer-Hardy opted for a gospel luncheon.

"I'm a church lady," she tells me.

Her faith has been tested after her son's murder in August. Jerome Boyer, 35, was shot eight times near his home in Crescentville - the city's 248th homicide of 2007.

"When you're grieving, you don't know what to do or how to do it," explains Boyer-Hardy, a human-services manager from West Oak Lane who met Woodbury at a Mothers in Charge (www.mothersincharge.org) meeting.

Boyer-Hardy says she's grateful for money-making help, but wishes she didn't need it:

"It's a shame we have to do this."

Mina Pinckney heard about Captured & Convicted at SEPTA, where she's a procurement officer and her foster son, Tyrone Campbell, was a maintenance worker.

Campbell, 20, was shot to death in July near 17th and Dauphin Streets in North Philadelphia. It was 4:30 a.m. He was on his way to work when he became the 230th homicide victim of the year.

"Whoever called the cops that morning saw what happened," reasons Pinckney, who lives in Delaware. "I'm told it's a heavy drug area and people are scared, but I know money talks."

For the last three weekends, she's roamed the streets near the crime scene with the Captured & Convicted crew, posting 450 flyers and telling folks that doing the right thing could be lucrative.

"Last Saturday, one guy came up to me and said, 'I know who did it and I'll tell you as soon as you get the reward, because I need the money,' " Woodbury recalls.

This Saturday, Pinckney will host a semiformal luncheon - "because my son loved to dress up" - at the Dorothy Emanuel Recreation Center in Cedarbrook.

She hopes to wind up with $3,000 once Captured & Convicted gets reimbursed for printing costs and the price of the TV and DVD player being raffled.

"We don't charge the families any money," Woodbury explains. "That would be weird."

Boyer-Hardy's luncheon is scheduled for November, and two other fund-raisers are in the works. One family using Captured & Convicted hopes a reward will spur interest in a seven-year-old crime.

As she spends more and more time immersed in crime, Woodbury says it's not for her to judge victims with checkered pasts or tipsters motivated only by money.

"No one deserves to be murdered," the Mount Airy woman says.

And as for the informant in her brother's case who came forward for cash?

Woodbury's mother insisted that he be paid as soon as detectives confirmed his role in the arrests. The reward never even made it to the Crime Commission.

"The only thing we care about is what he did," Woodbury explains. "He got those men off the streets. He may have saved another family from going through what we have."