Thoughts for my Friend pt 2

My previous blog post about my friend Caleb, is now the most read blog I have ever posted in over ten years of posting here at Idiothead.com. Well deserved and a knock out of the park for him. I thank you for reading it. It certainly was the most free flow of anything I wrote. Just how I feel in the moment. Its been shared, relinked and read multiple times. I thank you. It gives you a glipse of what we lost this past weekend. But nowhere near tells the story.

Yesterday I went into work for the first time. All day I kept thinking: This is a hoax. He's gonna be there. He just got probably everyone on the planet to pull off the greatest prank ever done. I'm going to walk in and he'll be sitting there at his desk with a big shit eating grin on his face. But no he wasn't. I sat out in the parking lot and cried, preparing myself to walk in. The hardest was going to see Jacob, our friend, who has worked along side him for 12 years there. Inseperable. You could see the pain on everyone's faces. There were hugs. There were tears. We swapped stories, but we got through the day. It's all we could do.

Our thoughts now resonate on his wife Colleen and their kids, Olya and Landon. We all are trying to find ways we can help. And if my blog I posted before touched you in any way, I offer you this: you can help too.

There has been a GOFUNDME account set up on behalf of the Stevens family. It will help pay for funeral and medical expenses. I watched it rise all day yesterday. I'm happy to know that they are damn close to their original asking goal of $5,000 in less than 24 hours. Its amazing! However, the amount isn't set at $5,000. We can go beyond that and I hope we do.

Last week remember I told you the Stevens' bought a new home. They sunk all they had into the down payment. So a tragedy like this will surely destroy anything they had rolling. There is a ton to sort out. Funeral, medical for those in the car wreck, time off of work to recover, etc. But let's not forget beyond that. This family now has to build a future together. Two young kids are approaching school soon. His wife will have a lot to juggle. You can see where the need is for this campaign to go beyond the asking price.

Here is the link to the GO FUND ME: RIGHT HERE

Right now I am talking with the organizers to try to plan some sort of live event where I can be there and do sketches for donations. More on that if and when it can happen. But for now, this is what I want to do:

ALL SALES FROM MY ONLINE STORE (Books, commissions) FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS WILL DIRECTLY GO TO THIS GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN.

So go to the ONLINE STORE and score a book. Or go to my COMMISSION SECTION and get a commission. All money earned will go to this fund.

I urge all of you to either directly donate to the fund or order something from me, get something and I will donate the money earned for you. Thank you, I appreciate it.

The outpouring of support and sharing of stories makes me truly remember the fact that the world is indeed filled with good people. We can band together to help each other. Here I am merely asking. Help my friends and family. I appreciate it.

Thank you.

The Stevens family GO FUND ME 

--T