Though Emporian McKenzie Payne was sadly taken before she could attend medical school in 2018, her passion and desire to save lives continues to live on through her friends, family and community in many ways.
This includes the annual Payne’s Promise blood drive, which was held Sunday inside Flint Hills Mall. Joie Payne, McKenzie’s mother, says it “Makes my heart happy” to see so many people step up and embrace the values her daughter embodied throughout her life.
Not only is the Payne family using the blood drive to keep McKenzie’s memory alive, but they also do so through various other ventures, including supporting bike rides, adopting families during the holidays and through the McKenzie Payne Memorial Scholarship, which supports students looking to enter the medical field. Joie Payne says the scholarship fund instills great pride in her and her family, noting it has grown and flourished well beyond their earliest expectations.
When asked if she had a message for those looking to go into the medical field in the future, or those who may already be on that track and who have benefited from the scholarship fund, Joie Payne told them to do everything with love and purpose.
In looking at all the good that’s been done in McKenzie’s name in recent years and while she wishes it didn’t take a tragedy to inspire that good work, Joie Payne says she has no doubt McKenzie is smiling down “On all of us.”
Payne, a 2013 graduate of Emporia High School, was preparing to attend medical school at the University of Kansas when she was murdered in 2018. Fifty-two units of blood were collected, above goal of 44.
