Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation

The primary purpose of the Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation is to provide free and reduced rate divorce, custody, child support and family law legal services to veterans and active duty members of the Armed Forces through the Nicholas J. Murphy Military Legal Clinic. That work is being provided free of charge or for a reduced rate 20% discount in partnership with and through the legal services of the attorneys and paralegals at the law firm of Murphy & Dunn. In addition, we are also providing financial support to veteran and active duty members of the Armed Forces at Christmas time each year through our Military Christmas Grant Program. 

Nick's Foundation provides free and reduced rate family law legal services to deserving families with a connection to the Armed Forces who need divorce, custody, child support and other family law related legal services, and provides military grants to help members of the Armed Forces and their families with needed help at Christmas, all in honor of our son, Nicholas James Murphy, who was killed on November 19, 2016 while serving in the United States Navy. 

NICHOLAS J. MURPHY MILITARY LEGAL CLINIC

As part of the Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation, we have created the Nicholas J. Murphy Military Legal Clinic to offer free and reduced rate family law legal services to veterans and active duty members of the Armed Forces and their families in the areas of divorce, custody, child support and all areas of family law in Peoria, Bloomington and throughout Central Illinois.

This clinic will be administered in partnership with the law firm of Murphy & Dunn, P.C. and operate out of their two offices located in Peoria at 456 Fulton Street, Suite 425, Peoria, Illinois and in Bloomington/Normal at 306 Grove Street, Bloomington, Illinois).

This Military Legal Clinic began operations in January 2017 and our goal was to undertake 15 cases each year and to complete at least $75,000.00 worth of free or reduced legal services through the clinic. We have vastly exceeded that goal and are growing each day. As of October 11, 2022, we have taken on 211 cases and provided over $927,000 worth of free legal services. All of this was made possible through the volunteer legal work completed by the attorneys, paralegals and staff at the law firm of Murphy & Dunn. Their partnership with the Nicholas J. Murphy Military Legal Clinic has made Nick’s Foundation a huge success. 

All work performed involving active duty Armed Forces service members and veterans must be on behalf of the service member and veteran and not against them. We will not represent a party in a case where we are litigating against the active duty service member or veteran themselves. The Nicholas J. Murphy Military Legal Clinic will assist clients in all areas of family law, including divorce, custody, visitation, child support, and all child related matters. All time spent on these cases are from volunteer attorneys and paralegals offering their services free of charge or at a reduced rate to honor Nick Murphy and all that he stood for. We also will complete mediation in these areas and have attorneys that can act as a Guardian ad Litem. Thank you to all of the attorneys, paralegals and support staff who have volunteered their time and their money to make this clinic a reality.

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words and prayers in support of our Murphy families. More importantly, thank you for any monetary contributions and in-kind contributions you can commit to making and pledge to make in honor of our son, Nicholas James Murphy. Thank you also to the attorneys, paralegals and staff at Murphy & Dunn, P.C. for their tireless efforts at making the Nicholas J. Murphy Military Legal Clinic a reality. As you can see, we are very proud of the young man Nick Murphy became and his contributions and sacrifice to our country.

Nick was an exceptional young man and we will do everything in our power to make sure his legacy lives on by helping as many people as we can on his behalf.

WORTHY SUPPORT FOR THE ARMED FORCES

One of the purposes of the Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation is to provide financial support to individuals and families associated with the the Armed Forces, with a special emphasis on the United States Navy and special forces, all in honor of our son and brother, Nicholas James Murphy, a member of the United States Navy killed on November 19, 2016.
 
We are still looking for more young men and young women who are joining or have joined the military and are waiting to go to boot camp. The Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation gives out $1,000.00 military scholarships to deserving young men and young women who meet these criteria. We will give special consideration to anyone who has a special forces contract, like Nick Murphy did for the Navy SEALS. If you know of anyone locally who has joined the Armed Forces and who is in need of a military grant and scholarship to help them out before starting boot camp, please contact us. This money can be used for any reason, including family and support, a vacation before joining, to help pay bills, etc. We know the military does not pay well and we want to help out these outstanding young persons and thank them for their sacrifice and commitment, now and in the future.
 
In addition, as part of our “Pay It Forward” goal, we want to help in the financial support for families of the Armed Forces with Christmas grants to deserving military families throughout the United States to help them out this Christmas season. We thank all of these families for all that they do to protect and serve for us and their service to our Country.

As stated above, we will give out $1,000.00 military grants to deserving student-athletes from any high school or college in the central Illinois area that can be used by them for any reason. If you know of a deserving young man or woman who would be a good recipient, please email gedwardmurphy@murphy-dunn.net.
 
These military grants are to help these young men and women in their transition into military life, to go on a vacation with their family before they go off to boot camp or for whatever reason they deem worthy. Any young man or woman who has joined the Armed Forces in the Central Illinois area is eligible to apply or be nominated for these military grants.
 
Please help support our military troops and specifically these brave young men and women sacrificing everything and going straight from high school or college into the Armed Forces by donating to the Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation. All donations, no matter how small, are welcome and appreciated and make a huge difference in making these military grants possible. 
 
If you, your company or your organization is interested in joining us or partnering with us on this endeavor, please let us know. Nick Murphy loved playing baseball from the time he was five years old through high school. He also loved his time in the Navy working to become a Navy SEAL and his years prior to joining the Navy training to become a Navy SEAL. These military grants and the financial support we provide for deserving military individuals and families joining the Armed Forces are a big part of the Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation. Please support our military and make a point to thank them every chance you get for their service, sacrifice and commitment to our country every time you see a member out in public. I can tell you from experience in talking with Nick that it means a lot.

You can reach out by emailing G. Edward Murphy, by calling (309) 674-5551 for the Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation, or by donating through the link below.

Heroes don't wear capes. They wear dog tags.

PRIOR EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT FOR STUDENT ATHLETES

One of the original major goals at Nick's Foundation was to provide educational scholarships and financial support to high school and college student-athletes to advance their college education. Although we now focus on the legal services, we wanted everyone to know all that we have done to honor Nick Murphy.

As part of that financial support, in June 2017 and in June 2018, the Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation gave out a total of ten $2,500.00 scholarships (for a total disbursement of $25,000.00) to deserving student-athletes. We originally were going to give out two scholarships per year, one $2,500.00 scholarship to a female student-athlete and one $2,500.00 scholarship to a male student-athlete, graduating from Dunlap High School in honor of Nick Murphy's academic and athletic career prior to him joining the United States Navy. However, due to the success of the Foundation's fundraising efforts, and due to the fact that we had so many deserving student-athletes apply, we were able to "Pay it Forward" by increasing the total scholarships from two to five and the total college funds distributed from $5,000.00 to $12,500.00 per year.

Please check out the video below to hear more from Nick’s big brother, Grant Murphy. Thank you, everyone, for your continued support.

The scholarship recipients were chosen by the Murphy Family (Ed, Theresa, Grant, Alec and Delaney Murphy) based on nominations made by the student-athletes themselves, and by paying extra attention to the players attitude, hustle, support, work ethic and their overall contribution to the team, the school and the community. Nick Murphy was never the biggest guy on the team, but he always had the biggest heart, the best hustle and cared the most about his coaches and fellow players in making them the best they could be. He never shied away from a challenge and he never "sat on the sidelines" in anything he did. He always gave 100% and was always "The Man in the Arena".  

The five college scholarship winners for 2017, with each person receiving a $2,500.00 payment toward their college tuition, were Trey Rohman, Jhonny Ghantous, Jena Brooks, Nate Hinnen and Hunter Mitchell, and the five college scholarship winners for 2018 were Zachary Stirnaman, Sage Bessert, Clara Fitzpatrick, Matthew Pichaske and Jackson Frank.  Congratulations to all of these fine student-athletes. We will be following your college careers and are very pleased to help you in reaching your goals and dreams. 

NICHOLAS J. MURPHY MEMORIAL PRESS BOX

Thank you all SO much for your support. The Press Box Dedication was beautiful and we are so grateful for all who attended and for all the media coverage the event received. We are also grateful for the beautiful video below, courtesy of Pat Clark Productions.

GREAT NEWS FROM 2017 AND 2018

The Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation was proud to announce that the Dunlap Board of Education approved the building of a new press box for the Dunlap High School Varsity baseball field and that the press box will be named the Nicholas J. Murphy Memorial Press Box in honor of Nick. It is an unbelievable honor for Nick and our family that Nick's legacy will live on through the Nick Murphy Press Box.

In March, 2017, Coach Rod Hatch called Ed Murphy and asked if it would be okay if he talked to the school board and made a request that a new press box could be named after Nick. We were obviously shocked that he would consider doing such a thing and completely honored. Nick loved playing baseball for Dunlap High School and Coach Hatch and loved everything about baseball, his teammates and his time being there. It was a sad day when he graduated in May, 2015 and his high school baseball career ended.

Coach Hatch then contacted the Athletic Director, Greg Crider, and the school board officials and asked that the press box be named after Nick. Over the course of the next month, the officials at Dunlap worked quickly to put this project together so that it could be approved and plans started to get it built as soon as possible. It is obviously a huge undertaking. Then, in full support, at the Dunlap School Board meeting, the naming of the project was approved.

Now the hard part WAs getting the money raised for the building of the Nick Murphy Press Box.

Originally, we thought the cost was going to be approximately $25,000.00. We needed help to raise the money before it could be built. That meant doing a huge fundraiser to raise the money so that it could be built during the summer of 2017. The start of the fundraising was through Coach Hatch and his "Turn Two for #2" double play fundraiser. People signed up to pledge money for every double play turned last baseball season as the first fundraiser for the Nick Murphy Press Box Project. That raised over $1,000.00 by itself and was a huge success..

The rest of the $25,000.00 was going to be raised by private pledges and other community fundraisers. The Dunlap Alumni softball game from 2016 and 2017 donated over $3,000.00. There were many other plans in the works to raise money as well. We then told people last year that whatever money was not raised will be paid for by our family personally. Theresa and I decided that we would make sure the money was raised quickly to make sure the Nick Murphy Press Box was built last summer while there are still players and coaches at the school that played with and coached Nick. We are very proud Nick's legacy of sacrifice and commitment will be carried on through the Nicholas J. Murphy Memorial Press Box.

As a result, we asked for your help. Here is what we asked last year:

It means more than you can know to us and our family for Nick's name and his legacy to be honored by having the press box named after him. We can go to a game and everyone playing in the field and everyone sitting in the stands will be able to look up and see Nick's name at the top of the Press Box overlooking the field. This is personal to us. It means Nick will never be forgotten and his legacy will live on.

Thus, here is what we are asking. We are asking everyone we know to help us raise the funds and contribute specifically to the Nick Murphy Press Box Project. We have already raised plenty of money to support the golf outing and raised a substantial amount to support the educational, military, charitable and legal causes that will undertaken for right now in the next few months. All of the educational scholarships, military scholarships, and charitable donations that are going to be made in the next few months are fully funded through the Foundation. You can send your check payable to the Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation to 456 Fulton Street, Suite 425, Peoria, Illinois 61602.

Anyone who donates $500.00 or more will have their name or family added to a Donor Plaque that will be permanently attached to the building.

Thank you everyone. Please donate so we can make this project a reality. Thank you Dunlap Board of Education, and all of those people involved in the school district as well. It is an honor for us to be involved in this project and make it happen. Nick would be so proud and think this was the coolest thing ever.

The Bad News

Then, we received the bad news. The cost was not going to be $25,000.00 like we thought. It was going to be $78,000.00. Wow, that was a shock. Everything looked bleak. Despite that news, we dug our heals in and decided no matter what we had to do we were going to do it. We called on all of our friends. We knocked on doors. People had fundraisers. Whatever it took, we did it. Them, our friend, Pete Mangieri, stepped in to help get the contractors to donate their time and money to get the cost down. Because of Pete's single handed efforts and the help of Dunlap High School and the school board chipping in, we were able to get the cost down to $52,000.00. Still a hefty amount, but way better than $78,000.00.

Throughout the summer of 2017, money was raised until in August, 2017, we reached our goal. Ed Murphy was at a local golf outing supporting OSF Children's Hospital when he received a call from Andrew Rand, CEO of Advanced Medical Transport. At that time, we were about $3,000.00 short of the $52,000.00 needed to finish the project. Andrew Rand and AMT stepped up and made a huge donation of $3,000.00 to put us over the top. That is the type of people we have in this community supporting our cause.

ANGELS IN HEAVEN

Thank you everyone for your support. The Press Box dedication was completed on May 17, 2018. Nick Murphy is smiling that big Nick Murphy smile in heaven right now. Thank you so much.