Story by Macahi Oppong

Meg Hawkins' heart and dedication towards improving the community brick-by-brick and giving back to first responders was founded here at Mason during her time as a student-athlete. Meg's list of charitable doings & figures raised couldn't be summed up in a small book, let alone a few pages.

Hawkins grew up in Burke, Va., and attended Robinson Secondary School across the street from George Mason. In 1998, during her senior year, she received almost every accolade possible for Virginia High School League girls' soccer, including All-Met Player of the Year, and received an All-American accolade. After an accomplished high school and travel soccer career, Meg was recruited by numerous NCAA Division 1 programs across the country but decided to stay close to home and commit to George Mason. It did not hurt that the women's soccer team finished in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen tournament in the previous year.

Meg was plagued with injuries during her time at Mason, but those did not slow her down on the field. After finishing her college career and having endured six knee surgeries by 22 years old, Meg required an experimental meniscus transplant that was only done by a handful of orthopedic surgeons in the country. In total, Meg has had eleven surgeries on her left knee alone and years of grueling rehabilitation due to decades of playing high-level soccer. Through all that, she grinded through playing and remains in the Top 10 career assists at Mason.

After graduating cum laude with a bachelor's in Exercise Science in 2002, Meg thought she was going into the sports-specific and personal training field, but when she crossed paths with a police-recruiting detective while working at the now-closed Brion's Grill, her life plan changed.

The detective offered her an opportunity to become an intern at a local police academy, working in their physical training unit due to her degree major. Meg helped revamp their physical training program because of her education from GMU. Additionally, she spent numerous hours doing "ride-alongs" with different police officers, experiencing firsthand what they do daily. After completing her bachelor's, she decided to continue and take classes to obtain her master's degree at George Mason.

In 2004, Meg completed the police academy, graduating in the top of her class. She has been serving the community as a law enforcement officer for over twenty years. Most of her time has been spent on patrol and handling calls for service, but she is currently a community outreach officer. She also met her husband while on the job, a local firefighter and retired combat veteran, and they have been married for over a decade.

Although Meg has provided her fair share of assisting the community as a police officer, her charity work is also immense. One of her first charitable endeavors was participating in the "COPS Walk," a 2-day 25-mile marathon walk to raise funds for the national non-profit Concerns of Police Survivors which helps the surviving family members of law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. In the five COP Walks Meg has participated in, her efforts have raised over 25,000 dollars for the families. 

In 2011, Meg founded and organized the Officer Down Memorial Ride that benefits the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP.org), which is the largest online memorial for any officer or K9 that dies in the line of duty. In the 12 years she ran the motorcycle charity ride, she helped raise over $350,000.

In 2018, Meg and her husband started their nonprofit, Making Everything Good (MEG). Through MEG, she has worked extensively with Inova Fairfax's Forensics and Consultation Team (FACT) which is the department that handles forensic examinations conducted by nurses specifically trained to document sexual assaults (SANE), domestic violence, and cases of child abuse. After discovering that a victim was sent home in scrubs due to her original clothing being taken as evidence, Meg made a vow stating, "I will never let another victim walk out of here without undergarments or clothing." Meg quickly put together her first fundraiser, Project Fact, collecting undergarments and clothing, while raising over $5700.

In a matter of one week, Making Everything Good raised over $3000 and hand-delivered Christmas for Omar Delgado and his family. This first responder responded to the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, in 2016. Delgado was battling severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because of the incident and was on the verge of being fired from his agency due to not being able to return to full duty as a police officer. At the time, Florida's workers' compensation for first responders did not cover PTSD. Years later, Omar was a quintessential part in getting PTSD added to the benefits.

In just seven years, Making Everything Good has accomplished a great deal toward making the community a much better place, but they are far from done.

Since 2019, M.E.G.'s main initiative has been to provide transportation to first responders and veterans in need of inpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment, both domestic and international. In 2024 alone, M.E.G. has flown over 30 first responders and veterans to treatment centers.

Meg has remained close and integral to the George Mason community and her athletic family throughout all her charitable and community work. Over the years, she has returned and provided Women's Personal Safety training to numerous GMU women's sports teams. In Meg fashion, she was the driving force in installing a permanent bench at George Mason Stadium honoring the memory of her former Patriot teammate and fellow law enforcement sister Stephanie Hancock, whose untimely passing came in 2019.

Meg's yearning to help others comes from her perseverance and resilience in her athletic and professional career. Her years of giving without asking in return are why we today will celebrate her not only for her achievements and accolades on the pitch but also for her positive imprint on society.

 When asked about her favorite quote, Meg shared a meaningful one by Aesop: "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."