After gifting Klyde Warren Park with $5M in December to name its children’s park after Park Co-Founders Sheila and Jody Grant, the Perot Family has stepped up again to support the Park.
Putting Perot Power into fundraising for the Park, the family (matriarch Margot Perot and her offsprings and their spouses Nancy and Rod Jones, Suzanne and Patrick McGee, Sarah and Ross Perot Jr., Carolyn and Karl Rathjen and Katherine and Eric Reeves) will chair KWP’s President’s Circle.
Considered the “upper echelon of Friends of the Park,” the Circle was launched two years ago with Co-Chairs Ann Hobson and Alvise Orsini.
According to KWP President Kit Sawers, “We’re so grateful for this commitment from the Perot family. Friends of the Park annually generates between 5-10% of our revenue each year to keep the Park clean, safe and active. This funding is critical in allowing us to provide so many free opportunities for the community.”
It should be noted that the Perot siblings’ philanthropy is well known in the Woodall Rodgers neighborhood. Back in May 2008 in honor of their parents, they provided a $50M gift that helped surpass the $100M mark for the creation of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science that opened in December 2012, just two months after the Park welcomed its first guests.
As Suzanne put it, “We are delighted to be chairing Klyde Warren Park’s President’s Circle. Our entire family has been involved with the Park from the beginning, even sponsoring the first-ever Tree Lighting Celebration. My mother was an early champion, and my sister Nancy is on the board. This place has really stitched Dallas together, and, of course, we love having it so close to the Perot Museum. These Dallas institutions both celebrate their 10th anniversary this year.”
Kit explained, “The goal of the family is to encourage new membership to help the Park thrive post-COVID. Friends of Klyde Warren Park members support everything from landscaping to live music — all the things that make this nationally admired public space so vibrant, and free for everyone.”