Fandom Tribute to Kei

Today is Keiliss's birthday and it is very bittersweet. So many people loved her, admired her writing and have special connections with her. There were many stories in the MSV 2023 collection as a tribute. There was also a need for others to be able to participate outside of that fandom exchange. That's what the A Fandom Tribute to Keiliss collection is for and it will remain open indefinitely.

I was able to upload her favorite icon to the profile and the glitter piece of it worked. I hope it makes you all smile. There's a little FAQ about the collection on the profile page, and a spreadsheet with prompts for anyone who wants to contribute something but needs a little guidance or ideas for what they can do. A major thanks to zhie and independence1776  for their work on that spreadsheet! It would have not have been the same without them.

hhimring made Keiliss the focus of the tolkienshortfanworks challenge for February as well. You can find more about that here! It's such a lovely idea.

After Kei's passing, there were many donations made to my PayPal in memory of her. When I spoke to R, her husband in August, he said he wanted it donated to charity. He is a very kind man. The Tolkien Fandom is incredibly generous, though, and collectively raised $1200. (I donated the difference to make it a nice even number for ease of distribution.)

I was working with M, her oldest daughter on ideas on what to do with it, but I think M found it very overwhelming to deal with (and very understandably so!). I decided to make the executive decision on what to do with the funds. $600 went to Kei's family. R is getting on in years and his retirement funds do not cover very much, plus T, Kei's youngest daughter is returning to South Africa for a family trip that she had planned before Kei passed, and I asked that some funds be used for a family outing during that time, if possible. I think it will be a very hard time for them.

With the remaining funds, I made donations to the Cancer Society of South Africa and Gift of the Givers (she mentioned this charity multiple times to me and loved their work). I'm working with anerea to finish up the last of the donations because I know it has to go to animal charities. Kei had dogs, cats and even chickens at one point - (cows, sheep and goats also were a favorite to show up in fanfiction!) She also believed very strongly in animal conservation. Some will be going to Eseltjiesrus Donkey Sanctuary because of her story Sanctuary. If you haven't read it yet, I really recommend it!

I will be editing this post when the last of the animal charity donations have been finalized. I will also be contacting each individual donor with information about where the funds went via the email address they donated from. Receipts of the funds distribution will be available upon request via email - I'm not comfortable posting my account screen shots on a public DW entry.

Thank you all for the stories you've shared about her and the assurance that she will absolutely not be forgotten any time soon.

EDIT: Last bit of the fandom donations went to Eseltjiesrus Donkey Sanctuary and Grace Animal Sanctuary. I also got news from M that R is in need of a hernia surgery and the money came at a very good time.

Kei and her husband were pensioners and things were always very tight. I know she would have been a bit shocked and embarrassed by everyone's generosity on her behalf, but the thought of her husband helped this way would have moved her to tears.

Thank you everyone who donated and thank you for trusting me to be able to distribute the funds.