Alexandra "Zan" Hailey of Manassas, Prince William
died unexpectedly in a car accident Halloween afternoon, while driving for business in Kentucky. She was 26.
Zan was known as one of the county's first poet laureates, selected in 2015. She was also an artist and a skateboarder.
To combine both of her passions, her brother, Neil Hailey, an engineering student and recent inventor/entrepreneur, added another mission to his GoFund Me call "The Zan Hailey Memorial Fund.
In addition to helping to offset Alexandra's funeral costs, Neil said any additional money could be used to celebrate Alexandra in a creative way in keeping with how she lived her life.
He has now proposed creating a line of Vans sneakers using her art work as Vans are the shoe of choice for skateboarders.
The amount of support for Zan over the past 24 hours has been overwhelmingly positive. Every contribution, share, and comment is appreciated greatly. Many remember Zan as an artist who expressed her passion both visually with paintings and amazing sculptures, and through written poetry. Others remember Zan as a badass who started skateboarding at Vans Skatepark in Woodbridge Virginia in sixth grade (after her six-year old brother) and was never afraid of bruises or burns. A very close friend to both Zan and I, Matthew Sozio had a great idea to find some way to combine Zan's love for the arts and innovation with her passion for skateboarding. "VANS For Zan" would aim to just that. Zan has many pieces of amazing art, countless big ideas, and beautiful poetry. Vans For Zan would provide a way to spread some of Zan's creativity with others, as well as establish an ongoing effort to provide funds to other passionate individuals looking to pursue creative endeavors which they are passionate about. The first goal would be to create a line of shoes, similar to the ones below, which all incorporate her paintings. For those that didn't know, Zan also worked at Vans shoe store at Potomac Mills in High school and loved the shoes. In her time working there, she collected over 50 pairs. After such generous contributions thus far, any additional funds will go towards establishing the Vans For Zan Fun to continue spreading her creative work and enabling others to establish the love of theirs. #VANSForZan
"The Zan Hailey Memorial Fund" has raised more than $14,000 in one day, and the family is extremely grateful to friends and supporters.
