Featured  ·  December 2013

A letter from a senior senator.


Letter from U.S. Senator James M. Inhofe on United States Senate letterhead, dated December 16, 2013, addressed to Michael Morris, Director, Chase Morris Foundation. The letter reads: Dear Michael, We have this in common: we've both lost loved ones and I understand your grief. I applaud you for the work you are doing with the Chase Morris Foundation. Unfortunately, I was in Washington on December 12th and was unable to attend your event. I hope it was successful. Sincerely, James M. Inhofe, U.S. Senator.
Letter from U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe to the Chase Morris Foundation, December 16, 2013, on official United States Senate letterhead. Preserved in the foundation's archives.
"We have this in common: we've both lost loved ones, and I understand your grief. I applaud you for the work you are doing with the Chase Morris Foundation." U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe — December 16, 2013

Senator Inhofe wrote this letter five months after the foundation's incorporation, and just thirty-six days after the death of his own son Perry in an aviation accident on November 10, 2013. The letter is preserved in the foundation's archives. Senator Inhofe served Oklahoma in the United States Senate until his retirement in 2023. He died on July 9, 2024, at age 89.


A second senator

Senator James Lankford.


U.S. Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma at a public event with the founder of the Chase Morris Foundation
U.S. Senator James Lankford at a public event with the foundation's founder. Senator Lankford has represented Oklahoma in the United States Senate since January 2015.

The Chase Morris Foundation has been recognized at the federal level by both of Oklahoma's United States Senators. Senator Lankford, who took office four years after the foundation's founding, has continued the federal-level recognition first extended by Senator Inhofe in December 2013.


News coverage

News On 6 — KOTV, Tulsa.


News On 6, the CBS affiliate in Tulsa, has covered the Chase Morris Foundation's work multiple times across the foundation's history. Reporter Tess Maune covered the foundation's earliest screening events.

November 19, 2014  ·  News On 6

Foundation feature: "Play for Chase."

By Tess Maune, News On 6. The first major broadcast feature on the foundation, profiling the family's work in the months leading up to its first heart screening event at Metro Christian Academy.

January 27, 2015  ·  News On 6

Pre-event preview of the Booker T. Washington screening.

By Tess Maune, News On 6. A profile of the screening protocol, featuring an interview with one of the families whose child was identified with a previously unknown cardiac finding at the foundation's Metro Christian event four months earlier.

January 28, 2015  ·  News On 6

"Foundation Provides Free Heart Screenings For Tulsa Athletes."

News On 6 same-day coverage of the foundation's screening event at Booker T. Washington High School, in partnership with Tulsa Public Schools.

Bill signing coverage

SB 239 — June 2015.


June 10, 2015  ·  Oklahoma State Senate

Official Senate press release on the signing of SB 239.

Press release issued by the office of co-author Senator Ervin Yen, M.D., documenting Governor Mary Fallin's ceremonial signing of the Chase Morris Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act in the Blue Room of the Oklahoma State Capitol on June 10, 2015. Quotes from Senator Yen and Representative Doug Cox, M.D., describe the bipartisan, cross-chamber, physician-physician origin of the legislation.

July 6, 2015  ·  KOAM News

KOAM coverage of the SB 239 signing.

By Stacey Lindsay, KOAM News. Coverage of Governor Fallin's bill signing, with quotes from Mike Morris on the educational rather than mandatory character of the legislation: "We had 16 years, 10 months and 19 days... It is not a mandate for screening — it's an educational bill."

Official endorsements

Public support from Oklahoma officials.


Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak attended the foundation's January 28, 2015 screening event at Booker T. Washington High School and posted publicly about the event on the official Facebook account of the Oklahoma Insurance Department, expressing his support for the foundation's work and for the legislation that would soon move through the Capitol. The post documents the foundation's screening event and the cause it served, in the Commissioner's official capacity.

U.S. Senator James Lankford has been photographed with members of the Morris family at foundation-related events. Senator Lankford was sworn in to the United States Senate on January 3, 2015, weeks before the Booker T. Washington screening event.

All public officials referenced on this page have made public statements or appearances in their official capacities. The foundation does not represent that any official endorses every program or position the foundation has taken; we represent only the public record of the official's appearance, statement, or correspondence.

Archives

A continuing record.

The foundation maintains an archive of news coverage, correspondence, photographs, and legislative materials from 2013 to the present. Researchers, journalists, and family historians may request access through our Contact page.