Just days after [the death of senior Jarrett Mosby](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2014/1/11/students-remember-jarrett-mosby-kindness-determina/), a memorial benefit was held to raise money for his 6-year-old son, Jarrett Mosby Jr.

The benefit was organized by some of Mosby’s close friends and took place Dec. 27, four days after Mosby was killed by a gunshot wound to his lung in Madison, Ill.

Senior Armani Tatum was one of the creators of Mosby’s memorial benefit.

“I was actually talking with another Mizzou graduate, and I was thinking we should really do something for Jarrett’s family and his son,” Tatum said. “Jarrett loved his son to death; he was a very dedicated father.”

Many students and alumni contributed to the memorial benefit, which included creating flyers, supplying a venue and finding a disc jockey.

“It was just really amazing to see how many people chipped in and helped do something for his family,” Tatum said.

Tatum said the benefit raised between $4,000 – $5,000. Some of what was raised went to alleviate funeral costs, but most of the money went to Jarrett Jr.’s college fund.

“Jarrett was one semester away from graduation,” Tatum said. “The idea behind it was that his son would be able to finish what his father started and walk in his footsteps and achieve his father’s dream of graduating from college.”

Alana Flowers, a college adviser at Soldan International Studies High School in St. Louis and a recent MU graduate, said she didn’t know Mosby well but still felt affected by his death.

“I was a student parent in college, too,” Flowers said. “That’s kind of what really got to my heart, knowing that his son isn’t going to have a father. And in St. Louis, I work with a lot of low-income under-represented students, so a lot of my students remind me of Jarrett.”

After seeing a flyer that was made for the benefit, Flowers came up with the idea to turn the one-day event into a foundation to assist male high school students with college counseling and advising.

“I said, ‘Why don’t you guys just turn this into an actual foundation?’” Flowers said. “Rather than it just being a one-day thing, why can’t this be like an annual scholarship foundation to present to other African-American high school males with similar backgrounds to Jarrett?’”

Flowers approached Tatum with the idea, and the two decided to pursue it.

“I told her I thought that would be a good idea,” Tatum said. “I just wanted to do something positive in his memory.”

Tatum said the foundation, Jarrett’s Dream, would also work to possibly create scholarships for male high school students.

Flowers said the foundation is still in the early stages of development, as those close to Mosby are being given time to grieve.