Ed Wynn/SAFE Memorial Scholarship

About

When Ed Wynn passed away suddenly in 1997 his family wanted to help others while honoring him in a positive and fun way. He was always remembered for saying “Let’s get together and laugh.”

The Ed Wynn Memorial Scholarship Fund, which has awarded over $100,000 in financial assistance, was set up to provide an annual scholarship to the children of local first responders who want to pursue a college education. In 2008 the Ed Wynn Memorial Scholarship Fund became a Lifetime Member of SAFE and became known as the Ed Wynn/SAFE Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Although the Ed Wynn/SAFE Memorial Scholarship Fund had previously relied on donations from the Annual Larry Stewart/SAFE Memorial Golf Classic, the COVID Pandemic severely limited our ability to conduct fundraising events such as this. Currently, private donations and funds raised at events such as the SAFE Pickleball Tournament and Guns N Hoses ensure that the Kansas City Metropolitan Crime Commission and SAFE are able to continue our support of first responder families through benefit and holiday payments and these scholarships.

Details

Each year, the Ed Wynn/SAFE Memorial Scholarship Fund provides one qualifying high school senior and one college, trade or vocational student with assistance for college expenses by offering each a one-time $5,000 academic scholarship.

2023 ESSAY TOPIC:

Describe in detail (1,000 words or less) the myriad of challenges faced by First Responder agencies in today’s environment.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

Be a high school senior or college student or college level trade/vocational school student under the age of 23 pursuing an undergraduate degree or trade/vocational school equivalent.
Not be a previous awardee/winner of the Ed Wynn/SAFE Memorial Scholarship.
Have a current or last recorded GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Be of good character with no criminal background.
Be a child of or under the legal guardianship of a public safety officer (police officer, firefighter or EMT/paramedic) from an agency headquartered in one of the 12 counties covered by SAFE in Kansas: Shawnee, Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami and Wyandotte; or in Missouri: Platte, Clay, Jackson, Cass, Henry and Buchanan.
Children of KC Crime Commission staff or board members are ineligible for this scholarship.