Megan’s Fund helps make Christmas merry for kids in need

The spirit of giving and compassion lives on.

Throughout her life, Megan Williams put countless hours towards helping others, with a focus on children in need. The 17-year-old Center Grove High School student was out shopping for gifts for needy kids in December 2005 when she was killed in a car accident.

The pain of that loss has never left those who loved Williams. But they’ve put their energy into maintaining her selfless spirit every Christmas since.

Megan’s Fund, a charity created in Williams’ memory, is aiming to purchase holiday gifts for about 400 kids this December. Since it was created in 2006, the campaign has provided toys and other gifts to hundreds of children.

With the help of the Johnson County community, they once again hope to harness Williams’ light to make Christmas a merrier time for families in need.

“It’s pretty special to see it continue to grow and grow,” said Rachel Cline, Williams’ best friend and co-founder of Megan’s Fund. “Last year was the biggest year, but it’s great to see how many more kiddos and families she’s able to positively impact.”

Since mid-November, piles of wrapped gifts have been piling up in the homes of Megan’s Fund organizers. Toy cars, LEGOs, art sets, board games and many, many other items have been purchased by donors, or bought by organizers using funds donated to the charity.

“It’s a grassroots, out of our homes type thing,” Cline said.

Sponsors of Megan’s Fund receive a wish list from a local child in need. All of the names of the children Megan’s Fund helps come from social service agencies in the area, including the United Way of Johnson County, Foster Fairies, which provides items for kids in foster care, and Firefly Children & Family Alliance — which formerly was known as the Children’s Bureau and the organization that Williams collected for as a student.

Firefly works with hundreds of Johnson County residents each year, from providing therapy to a youth in foster care, to helping a mother escape domestic violence, to providing emergency housing for a family experiencing homelessness. The organization’s Hope for the Holidays program aims to provide extra support to those families during the holiday season, said Joli Heavin, director of development for Firefly Children & Family Alliance.

Megan’s Fund helps support that initiative.

“I am always amazed by their ability to galvanize the community to support these kiddos and they do such an amazing job. It means the world to the families who benefit from their generosity, most of whom would not be able to provide presents for their children otherwise,” Heavin said.

Foster Fairies is a local organization striving to positively impact the lives of local children in the foster care system, primarily by fulfilling children’s needs and wishes. Megan’s Fund has been a key component of that mission during the holiday season, said founder Aleksandra Pesalj.

Oftentimes, the children the organization works with have been abused or neglected. Donations organized by Megan’s Fund show those kids that there are people who care about them, Pesalj said.

“Children who experience trauma tend to have a negative outlook on the world, but when you have a stranger grant a wish to a child with that level of trauma, it gives them a message that the world is not so bad after all,” she said. “It gives them a message that they are seen, heard, and loved, and then, by default, these have a better chance to succeed in life.”

Those purchased gifts are given to caseworkers partnering with Megan’s Fund, who then deliver the bounty to families in the area.

Megan’s Fund was born the year following Williams’ death. Prior to the accident, she had been collecting money and gifts for children living in foster care and shelters through the Key Club program at Center Grove High School, where she was a junior.

In her memory, Cline and Waterman worked to finish the work Williams started that Christmas. Starting in 2006, they took on additional families, sponsoring kids and providing them with Christmas gifts. The first year of Megan’s Fund, they reached four children in need.

Their efforts have grown and touched more families every year. Last year, they sponsored 539 kids, and about 400 kids are being helped this Christmas, Cline said.

“We’re doing pretty well so far,” Cline said. “I feel like in general, we don’t have as many sponsors as we did in prior years; I know it’s early in the game, but in general, we need some more sponsors.”

Megan’s Fund will help as many children as they can, and also accept donations for those who do not get a sponsor. In the coming weeks, all of the items collected and purchased will be distributed to organizations collecting gifts for kids in need, to help ensure they have the best Christmas ever.

The hope is to get everything to the social agencies organizers are partnered with by mid-December, Cline said.

“With the organizations we work with, we’ll keep going until we have all of the kiddos sponsored,” she said.

Supporters of Megan’s Fund can donate using a fund set up at Chase Bank. This year, people have also been using Amazon Wishlist to purchase gifts. People interested in sponsoring a child individually can email organizers at [email protected] or going to the Megan’s Fund Facebook page.

HOW TO HELP

Megan’s Fund is seeking sponsors and donations.

Become a sponsor: Send an email to [email protected] to be paired up with a child in need. You can also visit the group’s Facebook page at facebook.com/Megansfund0929.

Wishlist: A Megan’s Fund list of needed items has been set up at Amazon Wish List.

Donate: You can donate money at any Chase Bank location using the name Cheryl Waterman-Megan’s Fund.