The John Watkins Memorial Fund was formed by the McPherson Optimist Club following the passing of John Watkins after a long fight with cancer ending on April 4th, 2008. John had been a long time Optimist member with a passion for the youth of the community. John's leadership within the Optimist club brought many new members to the club and inspired all of our members to do their best for our community and our club. Following John's death the Optimist Club wanted to continue John's legacy by creating an endowment fund in honor of John with a purpose of helping the youth in McPherson county. The annual John Watkins Memorial Golf Tournament was created with all proceeds going to the John Watkins Memorial Fund with a goal of raising $20,000 for the endowment. By the end of the third annual golf tournament our goal had been achieved. SInce then the Optimist Club has continued to fund various community youth projects in the name of John Watkins. The golf tournament continues today but is now called the McPherson Optimist Club Memorial Golf Tournament in honor of all of our fallen Optimist members.
Click here to see a full list of Optimist memorials
Donations made from the John Watkins Memorial Fund
- March 2013 | $1,500 check payable to the Optimist Club for the SNAG golf program
- December 2014 | $1,000 check payable to United Way for printing of Children's book
- February 2017 | $1000 check to the McPherson Middle School Long Jump Pit
In the January board meeting the McPherson Optimist Club voted to pledge $2,000 toward the completion of a new jump pit at the McPherson Middle School. In the fall of 2016 TJ Jackson, a teacher and track coach at MMS, submitted a request for funds to the Optimist club to assist with the project. TJ sighted safety, sanitation, and access issues with the current jump pit and commented that each year kids would get hurt because of the hard, bumpy ground that makes up the current jump pit. TJ had raised about 1/3 of the dollars needed for his project at the time of his request. Following the McPherrson Optimist Club pledge, TJ pushed ahead and obtained the remaining funds needed within a few short weeks. We asked TJ to come to our regular January 31st club meeting and accept a $2,000 check for the club. We look forward to seeing the completion of this project and are glad we could be a part of helping kids at MMS for years to come.
A portion of this GIFT was provided through the John Watkins Memorial Fund managed by the McPherson County Community Foundation.
