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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2014)
NEWS B Y A N N A V. S M I T H NEVER A KINDNESS TOO SMALL Keegan Keppner brings food and attention to Eugene homeless K eegan Keppner sits in a green plastic lawn chair with “Whoville” scrawled on it in Sharpie, the O written as a peace sign and surrounded by hearts and asterisks as if it was decorated by an adoring fan. Keegan’s knees are jammed up in his black sweatshirt and he shifts around to evade the chilliness of the spring evening. Cars roar past the temporary encampment on 8th and Mill. Aside from his fidgeting, very little about his attitude or comments reveals Keegan as the 10-year-old child that he is. Keegan, who has terminal brain cancer, took up the issue of homelessness in Eugene in December, and since then has been supporting the unhoused through supplies and advocacy. The “Whos” around him talk about where they’ll set up camp next. A cluster of tents and chairs is all that is left of the homeless community named Whoville that lasted for months near the University of Oregon campus. Whoville was closed by the city in April, and the Whos have been searching for a new permanent location, since the city did not offer a place for the Whos to relocate to. Some in the camp get aggravated at the discussion and leave; others stay and vent their opinion. And when Keegan pipes up, they listen. “If it wasn’t a school night, I’d stay out here tonight,” Keegan declares to the group. They nod and murmur knowingly. The number of times that Keegan has stood by them, individually and as a group, has made him true to his word in their book. But, as Keegan’s father Steve Magray points out, for Keegan there is homework to be done. “The thing about that is when you guys get home, the homework will still be there,” one of the Whos says. “We may not be!” They all give a tense laugh. It was at the original Whoville encampment on Franklin that Keegan first brought the Whos food (chili, one of his personal favorites) because, while watching TV at his home in Junction City, he saw a homeless man in a wheelchair in Whoville crying. After seeing the encampment for himself and asking his parents why they were there, he decided he wanted to help. His father was, at one point in his life, homeless. Since then he’s not only helped, he’s taken up the cause. Keegan started an online fundraiser and brought the Whos chili, sandwiches, pizza and snacks to keep them going. During one trip to the camp, he handed out care packages Like other fourth graders at Laurel Elementary, Keegan with first-aid kits and “Click, click… BOOM! You’re plays video games, has his troupe of friends over for infected by Keegan’s kindness” handwritten on each bag. pizza nights and wants to travel when he’s older In an attempt to publicize the issue and help people (specifically to New York City, because it’s understand the Whos’ day-to-day struggles, he’s huge, and Mexico, because he’s half talked with Congressman Peter DeFazio about the Mexican). He’s been trying to recruit some homelessness issue and walked from Whoville to friends on the sly to come help with the Salem with his dad and others to talk to Gov. Whos, with their parents’ permission. John Kitzhaber. Although Keegan wasn’t able to Eventually, he says, they may try to do a walk the entirety of the 66-mile journey, he small food drive to help the Whos. walked the first 15 and the last 10 into the In general, it’s Keegan who fuels the capital. His many exploits are documented on his actions, and his parents who give him “Keegan’s Kindness” Facebook page. the go-ahead and support. “Sometimes More recently, Keegan challenged Eugene it’s me and sometimes it’s me and City Manager John Ruiz to spend a dad. I speak of little ideas and night on the streets with him to see then dad thinks about it for a what it feels like. Ruiz did not little bit and says a yes or a no take up the challenge, but to it,” Keegan explains. Keegan kept his word and spent Steve Magray says the weekend on the streets they’ve gotten some with his dad and the Whos. backlash from people These events have gar- online via comment nered local and national sections and Facebook, news attention from Ore- saying the family is a PR gon to New York, not media scam or that they only because Keegan is shouldn’t let Keegan young, but also because spend so much time on of his terminal cancer. the issue, such as when Kim Magray, Keegan’s he took time off of mother, describes school with his teacher’s Keegan’s condition as blessing for the walk to “the worst but the best,” Salem. because, while it is termi- “It’s hard for a parent nal, it is an extremely slow- to tell a kid no with such growing tumor, but also more high ambitions,” Steve difficult to treat than the other, Magray says. “He’s got to learn faster-growing type of tumor. to have a voice. He has compas- Keegan was first diagnosed when sion for the world around him. he was 22 months old, and went What kind of father would I be to through chemotherapy up until he not support him in this?” was 6. Kim Magray would explain For the time being, Keegan the tiresome MRIs by telling him he isn’t sure what he’ll do next, had an “owie” in his brain that they though he says if he had the money needed to look at. “It’s shaped like a he’d get all the Whos apartments, high-five!” Keegan says. just so they could have some respite Keegan hasn’t needed any from exposure to the weather. In the treatments for four years and has meantime, he hopes to keep bringing regained much of his sense of taste attention to the issue. “[People] lost during chemotherapy. For years mostly aren’t going out and seeing Keegan would only eat hot dogs and what it’s like. They make their chicken nuggets because it was all he opinions and they don’t even go and could taste. He happily reports that he see what it’s like,” Keegan says. “There’s still now loves chili and pizza, his food of a lot to do.” choice for the Whos. Whoville is still searching for a home. On Although the news coverage of Saturday, June 7, from 11 am to 6 pm a Music in Keegan’s activism has put a large the Meadow event will take place at 22nd and emphasis on his cancer, his illness isn’t Madison to raise money for Nightingale Health what drives his work with the Whos, nor Sanctuary featuring John Shipe, The Sugar Beets, is it a major everyday issue. “He knows Halie and the Moon and the students and friends he has cancer, and he’s open to talk to of Scotty Perey. For more info, search people about it,” Kim Magray says. Nightingale Health Sanctuary on “But he acts like a normal kid and Facebook. ■ wants to be treated like a normal kid.” P H O TO B Y T O D D C O O P E R City bikes, packs, racks, baskets, bells… Tim Verkler Urban Biking… In Stock. 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