Mother pushes for 'KP Day', honoring the life of 29-year-old who was killed while driving for Lyft

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WAND) — With support from family, friends and Iota Phi Theta fraternity brothers, the life of 29-year-old Kristian "KP" Philpotts will not soon be forgotten.

"He always said to everybody he knew, 'people are going to remember my name.' And, they do. Very determined, amazing, kind-hearted, just would give the shirt off his back," said Philpotts' mother, Marla Rice.

The 29-year-old was shot and killed in January of 2022 while working as a Lyft driver. Philpotts did this to earn extra money for his education at the University of Illinois to fund his true passion of being a veterinarian.

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"Philpotts often traveled to Urbana-Champaign to work as a Lyft driver to earn money for his goal to fund the Kids for Science program," said Kathleen Lorenz, Normal council member.

His love for animals now lives on through scholarships and his very own day. The cities of Bloomington, Normal, Champaign, Urbana and Charleston declared July 17th, Phillpotts' birthday, as Kristian "KP" Philpotts Day.

"It's not often that you can get several cities to put their seal on a proclamation," said Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe.

They celebrated Philpotts' birthday at one of his favorite places, the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington. Rice told WAND, there was no better place to honor him at.

"He had this passion for them. He wanted to start off working with animals and work his way up," said Rice. "And he wanted to have his own zoo one day. There's no better place than to show love to him at a place he loved so much on his birthday."

To donate or find more about his scholarship, visit here.