Father launches foundation to honor Maggie Dunn's life

Sometimes, even amid unspeakable tragedy, ideas are birthed to honor the lives of those no longer with us.

Randall Dunn is on a mission to honor his daughter while helping the community through tragic loss to return the goodwill he received during likely the most challenging time in his life.

Dunn is launching the Margaret “Maggie” Edline Dunn (med) Foundation named after his daughter Maggie Dunn who was killed in a New Year’s Eve crash last December when a police officer pursuing a suspect during a high-speed chase crashed into the car she was in.

Maggie and her friend Caroline Gill did not survive the crash. Maggie’s brother, Liam Dunn, suffered severe injuries and stayed in the hospital nearly a month after the crash.

Maggie and Caroline were students at Brusly High School.

“I think this is kind of a way to give back to the community and to continue in remembrance of Maggie,” Randall Dunn said. “We wanted to have a way where in this community, kind of on the West Side expanding into the Baton Rouge area, we wanted to have a mechanism where there was a foundation started that can help families out. Whether it’d be helping them get counseling, help with funeral costs, or help with medical bills, those kinds of things.”

He said the generous donations from the community after the crash helped start the foundation not only financially but it helped develop the idea.

“We’re in the hospital. We’re dealing with having to make arrangements to bury my daughter, and my son is on life support,” Randall Dunn recalled. “People are telling me, ‘Man, they are having this fundraiser,’ and doing this and that. I’m like, ‘Why are these people doing all this?’

“I didn’t want people to think I was out looking for money and those types of things,” he added. “Within the first week, I said I have to figure out a way to do this to be transparent. To me, that money is not ours. That was money that the community gave. I needed to do something, and it was a perfect opportunity to take a portion of that money and start this foundation with it.”

The MED Foundation aims to assist families who have suffered the tragic loss of a loved one under 21 and are unmarried.

*med Foundation logo. The word “foundation” is written in Dunn’s handwriting*
*taken from a quote she wrote in school.*

The Foundation intends to support families in the communities in and around where Maggie lived, Plaquemine, and Brusly, Louisiana. Immediate family members who have experienced the loss of a young loved one within the preceding 12 months, regardless of the circumstances, are eligible for assistance.

The foundation intends to establish several programs in the future to assist families as the organization evolves. The first program will be a Medical/Funeral Assistance Fund. Eligible families may receive funds payable directly to the facility that provided care.

“In the beginning, I was like, ‘Oh my god, what are we supposed to do with this money?’ It ended up being a blessing, and I think we’re going to be able to do something good with it,” Dunn said.