Support for ZZ in Memory of Kevin Fry

(EDIT: We're working to celebrate Kevin's life with two events on March 1- please visit bit.ly/KFry to learn more. We hope you can join us in Issaquah and Seattle)

If we haven't met, I'm longtime friend of Kevin Fry, Jack Forman. And if you're like me, losing Kevin is such an absolute tragedy that you still don't fully understand.

Kevin was an endlessly creative, absolutely brilliant, dedicated friend. He showed up early, stayed late. He was consistently fun: sometimes spontaneously, other times quite rigidly! He constantly improved the lives of the people around him, glued entire social groups together. He told stories, rode motorcycles, was a master craftsman in multiple disciplines. He literally learned fencing. Fencing! He dedicated a summer to flying kites every single day at Golden Gardens. He loved ZZ, his family, his friends, his friends' kids. Kevin Fry was, simply put, one in a million. We are all so lucky to have known him.

The only silver lining to this experience so far is how much support our shared community has lent each other; and if you're reading this, you're part of that community. We all find ourselves in the impossible place of wanting to help one other and so deeply in need that same support ourselves. This is going to be an evolving process for all of us, it's going to happen in waves, and we're all going to process this in our own unpredictable ways. But this community of ours is special, and I'm buoyed that we're all going to keep helping each other through this.

As we turn to our loved ones for support, one question that a lot of people are wondering about is "How can I help ZZ right now?" The answer to that one will be evolving too, but for now one thing we can focus on is Financial Support. In addition to lending support for immediate expenses such as Kevin’s portion of rent, there will be costs ranging from bereavement counseling to relocation expenses, lost income to the myriad other unexpected financial impacts.

We can all help. Please do not put yourself in your own fiscal peril, but I want to challenge all of us to give at a level just beneath that point. Let's all work together to remove one layer of stress from this unimaginably hard time for ZZ, both in tribute to our dear friend Kevin, but also in honor of ZZ, who he and we love so very much.

If you'd like to avoid the fee and you know how to do so, please feel free to contact me offline and I can arrange your contribution the old fashioned way (by check!). I'll log your contribution to count toward our goal. Thanks so much.