In communities all across Massachusetts, kids are riding horses, learning to swim and joining the circus thanks to Oak Bluffs seasonal residents Angella and Danroy Henry.

Twelve years ago the Henrys launched the DJ Henry Dream Fund, a nonprofit scholarship organization designed to help kids participate in sports and wellness programs. The fund was created in memory of the Henrys’ late son DJ Henry, a student athlete who donated sports equipment to financially struggling teammates before losing his life at the hands of a New York police officer in 2010.

This year, the Dream Fund is anticipated to reach one million dollars in giving.

“We started with our own money initially,” said Mr. Henry. “Then we began to fundraise around a really clear mission. We don’t fund programs, we fund people.”

The Dream Fund receives hundreds of applications each year from parents, coaches, grandparents and guardians throughout the state, and provides aid to those who demonstrate financial need for children interested in athletics, arts programs or summer camps.

“It’s all the big ones — basketball, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, swimming and diving,” Mr. Henry said. “Sometimes equestrian and recently kids in Circus Up!, a neat program that trains circus kids. We just had kids from there at our last gala fundraiser give testimonials and do a circus performance.”

In addition to financial help, the Henrys stay in touch with the families long after the programs end.

Quincy Pickett was one of the first Dream Fund scholarship recipients and now plans on playing college football after graduating from high school this spring. For Mr. Henry, knowing they helped Mr. Pickett and other students pursue their interests when they otherwise would have had to sit on the sidelines due to lack of equipment is part of what makes running the Dream Fund so gratifying.

The organization operates out of the Henry home and is largely volunteer based, relying solely on donor and community support. As long as they continue to make partnerships and find funding, Mr. Henry said, the Dream Fund can keep going.

Right now the Dream Fund is working on a new collaboration with the Martha’s Vineyard Boys and Girls club, which will be announced later this month, and is looking for more ways to get involved on the Island.

“We’re really doing this to honor [DJ] because he was doing it first,” said Mr. Henry.

It doesn’t take the pain away, he added, but helping kids say “yes” to their dreams is incredibly rewarding.

For more information, visit djdreamfund.org.