Brockmeyer to be honored with memorial endowment
Two Randolph County organizations have combined resources to help remember a fallen Chester police officer and volunteer firefighter.
James I. Brockmeyer was fatally injured on October 28 during a high-speed chase. The Randolph County Regional Leadership Committee voted in November to provide seed money for the "James I. Brockmeyer First Responder Memorial Endowment."
The Community Foundation of Randolph County will manage the endowment.
"The Regional Leaders had, weeks before, scheduled a meeting on the day that would turn out to be the day of Officer Brockmeyer's funeral service," said Melanie Johnson, a longtime member of the Regional Leaders Group and secretary of the Community Foundation, in a news release. "We postponed the meeting so we could honor his memory.
"We were communicating via email on which later dates we could meet and we said, why don't we do something to honor this young man who served as a police officer and fireman? So we did and we decided to move $5,000 to the Community Foundation to start the endowment."
"An endowment is a way to financially provide for the people, places and organizations in Randolph County," added foundation president Christopher Martin, also in the news release. "Officer Brockmeyer will be remembered for generations for his community service and sacrifice.
"As the endowment builds wealth, the foundation will provide matching grants for future community projects in Officer Brockmeyer's name."
Martin says the foundation holds two growth funds. One is the Scholarship Fund. The other is the Good Deeds Fund, which is where the new endowment will be managed.
The Regional Leaders also provided money for the scholarship fund and the Randolph County Progress Committee provided seed money for the Good Deeds Fund.
A third fund, an operating account is also managed by the foundation.
To contribute to any of the Community Foundation of Randolph County's funds, or to inquire about starting your own endowment, send your tax-deductible donations to The Community Foundation of Randolph County, 1 Taylor Street, Room 106, Chester, Illinois 62233.
You will receive a letter in the mail that verifies your contribution for state and federal tax purposes.
For more information, contact the foundation at 618-826-5000, ext. 221, or visit http://am.randolphco.org.
"We hope people from all over the region will help us grow these funds," said Martin. "The foundation is a 501c 3, nonprofit organization and every contribution is totally tax deductible. Especially at this time of year, we pray people will open their hearts and help us build these funds."