{"id":11074,"date":"2013-12-19T15:22:18","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T20:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=11074"},"modified":"2013-12-23T13:43:42","modified_gmt":"2013-12-23T18:43:42","slug":"local-artist-keelan-stokes-expresses-gratitude-for-communitys-kindess-during-his-time-of-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/local-artist-keelan-stokes-expresses-gratitude-for-communitys-kindess-during-his-time-of-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Artist Keelan Stokes Expresses Gratitude for Community\u2019s Kindess During His Time of Need"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve been online recently, you\u2019ve probably seen a story via thelocalvoice.net titled \u201cOxford Artist\u2019s House Burned\u2014Lost EVERYTHING Except His Life.\u201d The title is not misleading; around 3 am on December 12, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. loft apartments housing Keelan Stokes<\/strong> were engulfed in flames. By the time the firefighters were able to get the blaze under control, virtually all that remained were the \u201cfire walls\u201d between apartments and at the back of the house.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Keelan2\"<\/a>I spoke to Keelan at length after the fire and he says if he hadn\u2019t gotten out when he did, he would have been unable to leave. The fire spread rapidly from an adjoining apartment through the floors and ceilings, including his flaming wooden porch\u2014the only thing standing between him and safety; soon after he escaped, the porches all caved in. He had woken up to the sound of the adjacent apartment\u2019s front glass breaking from the heat, and he ran for safety. Keelan escaped wearing the clothes on his back and his phone in hand, dialing 911.<\/span><\/p>\n

He says the firefighters took about ten minutes to arrive, and that they worked as hard as they possibly could to keep the house from burning. They gave him a blanket and some orange slipper-shoes from LCDC\u2014two items he would cling to in the next few hours to keep his sanity. He would like to thank the firemen most of all, for their kindness and for helping him dig through the rubble of his smoldering home to find a few remnants of his things. They unearthed his favorite Kangol hat, and the dragon ring and yin yang necklace he\u2019s worn for years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keelan believes that an unattended candle in the apartment next door was responsible for the blaze. His neighbors had a visit from law enforcement earlier in the day to quiet a domestic dispute. Later that night, the dispute allegedly escalated to a physical altercation and both were remanded into custody. Keelan thinks a candle was forgotten in the hustle of the arrests and later ignited the apartments.<\/span><\/p>\n

The house is owned by Rogers & Ott, and Keelan says that Dean Ott<\/strong> quickly found him several apartments to look at. Hopefully, he will have a new place to live by January. Until then, he will be staying some friends he refers to as his \u201cOxford family.\u201d They\u2019ve given him plenty of space, and they\u2019re excellent cooks so Keelan is eating well. He\u2019s received lots of new and used clothing and shoes, including jackets; he says he doesn\u2019t need any more clothes. The Oxford-Lafayette Red Cross has given him assistance, and he has friends handling contact with other charitable organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keelan is saddest about the loss of his entire art portfolio\u2014artwork he\u2019s been making since the eighth grade. He also lost all his art supplies, his main method of supporting himself, and he\u2019s had offers for assistance in that area but still needs canvases, quality paint, and many other incidentals to get his art company, Kee Designs<\/strong>, back on track. He is more than willing to do commissioned artwork once he gets back on his feet. He\u2019ll be painting a mural for Kyle McGrevey<\/strong> at Express Computer Service<\/strong> (one of the folks helping him with his singed laptop and hard drives). Call him up and ask about portraits, murals, abstracts, and any other artistic endeavor you\u2019d like him to undertake. He\u2019ll be happy to hear from you, and will be even happier to paint for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once Keelan gets settled into a new place he\u2019ll need a host of other items like appliances and furniture. He says he thinks he\u2019s still in shock because he can\u2019t even think about what else he might need. That\u2019s why the \u201cKeelan, We Love You Fundraiser\u201d was set up for Thursday, December 19 at Old Venice Pizza Company. Couldn\u2019t make it to Old Venice? No problem: Madeline Murphree<\/strong> started a crowd-funding account at\u00a0http:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/5qgzcc<\/a><\/strong> called \u201cHelp Keelan Stokes Relief Fund.\u201d<\/strong> Keelan\u2019s lifelong friend Ronny Cresswell<\/strong> has put up all of the tracks by his band Saw Wheel (at<\/span> sawwheel.bandcamp.com<\/a><\/strong>); the tracks are free to download, but if you make a donation by the New Year, the money will be sent to Keelan. You can also send or drop off donations at 208 Woodlawn Dr. where Keelan is currently staying. He says he doesn\u2019t mind if people contact him directly, so find him on Facebook or call 662.801.7058. If you\u2019d rather your donation be anonymous or find it more convenient to drop off items on the Square, please contact Madeline Murphree<\/strong> (662.816.9383) or Jessica Ham<\/strong> (601.572.5915) – both these ladies have been collecting donations for Keelan since the moment they found out about his misfortune.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Keelan wants everyone to know how grateful he is for every bit of help he has received. He says he knows this will be the best Christmas he\u2019s ever had. His recent Facebook status sums it up:<\/span>
\n \u201cAs I look back I can\u2019t believe how a few seconds stood between me and death and it makes me ever so grateful for everyone\u2019s love and monumental levels of charity and compassion. I have never in my life ever felt so loved by anyone, not to mention an entire city, and I have no clue how I can ever repay all this kindness to all of you. I have no clue how I am worthy of such amazing friends. Please know I am sending my prayers to each and every one of you, for you have completely saved my life and it will never be taken for granted…thank you all from every beat of my heart. I love you all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve known Keelan since 1995. The night I met him, he was role-playing with some mutual friends at Wagner Park in Greenwood, Miss. I\u2019ve seen him grow from a \u201cguy\u201d into a \u201cman,\u201d but he\u2019s still the same GOOD person. He\u2019s always been a talented artist. He\u2019s always laughed all the time. He\u2019s always been there for his friends when he could, without question. He\u2019s always been very modest and unassuming; when this tragedy happened, he didn\u2019t ask for anything. He didn\u2019t expect anything. He says that anything he can\u2019t use he\u2019ll be giving to other individuals in need or to Goodwill. Keelan says, \u201cPay it forward.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

This article was written by Rebecca Long and was originally published in TLV #194, December 19, 2013<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve been online recently, you\u2019ve probably seen a story via thelocalvoice.net titled \u201cOxford Artist\u2019s House Burned\u2014Lost EVERYTHING<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":11106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[1178,2482,2512,2513,2510,2514,1504,2522,2511,2521,2479,2519,2520,4,2480,2518,2517,2481,2515,2516],"class_list":["post-11074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-people","tag-art-2","tag-artist","tag-burned","tag-charity","tag-fire","tag-gratitude","tag-greenwood","tag-ham","tag-house","tag-jessica","tag-keelan","tag-madeline","tag-murphree","tag-oxford","tag-patrick","tag-saw-wheel","tag-sawwheel","tag-stokes","tag-thank","tag-thanks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/KeelanFeat2.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}