Blue Knights Raise $7,200 for Padron Scholarship Fund

San Angelo’s Blue Knights of Texas, Chapter XXXV, Motorcycle Club raised $7,200, which they presented to the San Angelo Area Foundation on Monday, to benefit the Jaime Padron Scholarship Fund.

The proceeds come from two events held earlier in the year: The Jaime Padron Memorial Ironbutt Run on April 5th, and the Blue Line Rally two weeks later.

“After the bills were paid from the bike run, we were able to raise $6,000 for the Jaime Padron Scholarship Fund, and that would not have been possible without the local sponsors that we had."

He said 19 riders completed the 1,100 mile route in 22 hours during the Ironbutt Run and about 50 riders participated in the Blue Line Rally, a shorter ride through surrounding towns, which took in $2,400 for the group.

Proceeds from the Blue Line Rally are being split between the Padron Scholarship Fund and the Boys and Girls Club of San Angelo. The scholarship fund received $1,200 from the second ride.

Matt Lewis, director of the San Angelo Area Foundation said the Padron Scholarship Fund has crossed an important milestone with this donation.

“The Jaime Padron Scholarship is well on its way to being fully endowed; the hope is that it will forever award $1,000 annually to an area youth with an active, or retired, peace officer parent.  It costs about $20,000 to do that, and the fund is about half-way there," Lewis said..

“We're already giving out the scholarship, but we will also be growing fund—and it’s not limited—so if we can raise $40,000, then we can give out two scholarships,” he said.

San Angelo policeman and motorcycle patrol officer Bylsma said that they are going to make the Ironbutt Run an annual event to take place on a weekend close to the anniversary of Officer Padron’s death.

Linda Diaz is the sister of Officer Jaime Padron, and she talked about the history of the scholarship.

“We gave the first scholarship out not long after Jaime died; the first year we gave it to a Christoval High School graduate, because that is where my older brother [Jaime] went to school, and it was for $500," Linda Diaz said.

“Later, through meeting other people, we learned about the San Angelo Area Foundation and we thought it could expand to benefit more people, or the scholarship amount could grow," she said.

“We want to keep his name and memory alive, primarily for his girls, because they were very young when he passed, so we want them to really know who their dad was and to know how much the community, and all of his friends and co-workers loved and respected him," she said.

“He loved kids and he was all about education, so that is what led to the scholarship fund,” she said.

In addition to the Blue Knights contributions, Patrick Meadows of the local Papa Murphy's Pizza franchisee in San Angelo donated 20% of his grand opening's revenue and presented a second check to the scholarship fund for $1,649,29.

The total amount presented to the scholarship fund Monday morning was $8,849.29.

“On behalf of our family, we want to thank the Blue Knights, Papa Murphy’s Pizza and the whole community for coming out and opening their hearts with generosity in giving, because without that, the family would not have been able to reach that level of money; This is tremendous and I want to say ‘Thank You’ to everyone in both organizations and the San Angelo Area Foundation for allowing us to be able to do this," said Linda Diaz, spokeswoman for the scholarship.

“We love that this is in place and we can watch it grow.” 

The $1,000 scholarship will be presented annually to a graduating son or daughter of law enforcement officer to be applied to a college education. The scholarship is currently focused on all law enforcement agencies and officers operating within Tom Green County.

Jaime Padron served as a San Angelo police officer for many years before transferring to the Austin Police Department. While on duty in Austin, he was fatally shot by a suspect in a struggle.