The spirit of giving was what defined Megan Williams’ life.
The 17-year-old was selfless in her desire to help others, particularly children in need. Williams was out shopping for gifts for needy kids in December 2005 when she was killed in a car accident.
Despite Williams’ death, her legacy of caring lives on.
"It’s amazing to see over the years how many people Megan has had an impact on through her giving," said Rachel Cline, Williams’ best friend and co-founder of the Megan’s Fund charity. "I think she’d be amazed seeing all of the children who have been covered over the years."
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Since 2006, Cline and Williams’ mother, Cheryl Waterman, along with an army of supporters have raised money to provide gifts and clothing to local children in need. Megan’s Fund has served hundreds of children, and continues to honor Williams’ life through an annual distribution.
The community has been incredibly supportive for the past 14 years, Cline said. But sponsors are still needed to ensure every child has a merry Christmas.
"As long as the organizations that we work with still have kids in need, I will continue working on it," Cline said. "As long as we have kids who won’t receive anything on Christmas, we’ll continue doing this."
Bags and bags of clothing and toys 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 Cline and Waterman using funds donated to the charity.
In the coming weeks, those items will be distributed to organizations collecting gifts for kids in need, to help ensure they have the best Christmas ever. More than 300 kids will be helped this year.
Christmas remains a difficult time of year for all of the people who were touched by Williams’ life. But using her memory to do something positive for so many people helps ease that pain, Waterman said.
"Christmas Day is always sad for me. But I think of all of the kids who wake up and they have a Christmas, when they otherwise wouldn’t have had it. That’s what does it for me, that’s what gets me through," she said. "You try to make the best out of a tragedy, and that’s what we’ve done."
Organizers take pride in the fact that Megan’s Fund has been able to make the holidays better for so many children. And they’ve seen firsthand how the donations the community provides can impact families, even years down the line.
"One of my favorite things to see is, families that we’ve helped the past couple of years come back and sponsor throughout, so now they’re helping another family," Cline said. "It’s pretty cool to see."
Megan’s Fund was born the year following Williams’ death. Prior to the accident, she had been collecting money and gifts for the Children’s Bureau through the Key Club program at Center Grove High School, where she was a junior. The Children’s Bureau provides Christmas gifts to children living in foster care and shelters throughout central Indiana.
In her memory, Cline and Waterman worked to finish the work Williams started that Christmas.
"She was very determined to make sure those kids had the best Christmas ever, so that year, we collected things for those kids to cover those needs," Cline said.
The following year, they started taking on additional families, sponsoring kids and providing them with Christmas gifts. The first year of Megan’s Fund, they reached four to 10 children in need. Their efforts have grown and touched more families every year.
Last year, they sponsored 332 kids.
"That was a huge leap for us. We are all very local, grassroots," Cline said. "It’s been cool to see how many people have heard of Megan’s story."
Organizers continue to work with the Children’s Bureau to get the names of children or families in need. They also receive names from Christmas Angels, a program of the United Way; Foster Fairies, which serves foster children in need; and the Goodwin Center, a community agency serving underserved families and individuals based out of Camby.
Working with caseworkers from those agencies, they can determine what the kids want and get the right toys and clothes delivered to them, Cline said.
Supporters of Megan’s Fund donate using a fund set up at Chase Bank. This year, people have been using Amazon Wishlist to purchase gifts, as well as contributing through a GoFundMe page and a Venmo account.
Donations to the fund have come from as far away as California and Hawaii.
"It’s truly amazing that the community rallies around it so much. It’s mind-boggling," Waterman said. "I’m so proud and thankful that she’s had such great friends to carry this on in her memory."
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Megan’s Fund is seeking sponsors and donations. Here is a look at how you can help:
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. A GoFundMe page has been set up at gofundme.com/f/megansfund2015
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