For Kaylee: More books in children’s hands

The murder of a young Bend woman is bringing together strangers and helping children in need learn to love reading as much as she did.

Kaylee Sawyer loved to read, and her family is turning that into her legacy, as they continue to grieve her death.

The famous Dr. Seuss line, “Oh, the places you’ll go!” has a special place in the hearts of the grieving family and friends of Kaylee Sawyer, the 23-year-old who was murdered last July.

“It is called ‘KK Readers,'” volunteer Tanya Searcy said this weekend. She said Sawyer’s mother, Juli VanCleave, “informed me they called it that because when she was little, she couldn’t say Kaylee. She called herself ‘KK Fowyer,'”

Sawyer happened to share her birthday with Dr. Seuss. Now, the KK Readers Foundation is collecting children’s books to donate to NeighborImpact in Bend.

When Searcy heard about the foundation from VanCleave on Facebook, she knew she wanted to join the effort, even though she never knew Sawyer personally.

“I wanted to do something to help them,” Searcy said. “Her grandfather was so supportive of my company when we first started.”

In fact, Sawyer’s grandfather was one of Tanya’s first customers at Central Oregon Rustic Doors.

The books are purchased on a wish list through Amazon Prime and shipped directly to the foundation. English books cost $10 dollars, and Spanish about $14.

Donors can add a note to be included in the package.The notes are passed along to Sawyer’s family.

We reached out to the family about the books effort, but they said they couldn’t talk, due to the trial of murder suspect Edwin Lara, scheduled for next October.

They did, however, provide this statement:

“The message I would like to share is that it is important to me when people think of Kaylee, they don’t automatically think of this horrible crime, but that they see what a beautiful soul she had. And that there are way more good and decent people in the world than evil,” Kaylee’s family said.

Searcy said of the family, “They are really just trying to move forward and build a strong legacy for Kaylee moving forward.”

Asked if the family believes this is what Sawyer would have wanted, Searcy said, “I think that’s where they’re going with this. Grandma Sharon shared with me that before Kaylee reached high school, they had read over 2,000 books together. So it was a big focus for their family to always be reading and interacting with each other.”

The goal of the foundation is 500 books, and they already have nearly 400.

If you would like to donate, the site is: http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3TO0KUBDKHY6F