Matt Kelly lost one of his friends in November.

A drunk driver hit and killed Zachary Milks on Nov. 26.

Milks was 23-years-old.

“It was sort of a gut check in the sense that it was incredibly ironic because I had been working with this group fighting against drunk driving for a whole semester, and I was just pouring my heart into it,” Kelly said. “Less than a month before the semester ends, I get a call that my friend had been hit by a drunk driver and was killed.”

Kelly, a senior journalism major, had been working with Respect of Youth all semester long.

R.F.Y was started by former Eastern wide receiver Micah Rucker after his girlfriend, Rebecca Yacob, was killed by a drunk driver in January 2007.

The importance of R.F.Y. was never anymore evident for Kelly than on Nov. 26.

R.F.Y’s mission is to educate students about drinking, urge them not to binge drink, drink and drive or drink while underage.

After Kelly’s tragedy, he was able to relate to R.F.Y’s purpose more than ever before.

“It was real before that because I related to what Micah was feeling because I got to know him really well, but then it became so tangible after that happened to me,” Kelly said.

Rucker graduated in December, leaving R.F.Y without a president. Currently, Kelly is the chairman for R.F.Y. Despite Rucker’s graduation, R.F.Y. is still an RSO on campus and is working to educate Eastern students about drinking.

Kelly said after the death of his friend, he realized the importance of having an organization on campus that worked to educate students about the dangers of drinking and driving.

Katrina Zaret, a senior journalism major and Vice President of R.F.Y, saw this change in Kelly as well.

“It was a large reality check, we wanted people to understand this can’t happen,” Zaret said.

At the start of each R.F.Y meeting, Rucker would tell a story about Rebecca. At the last meeting during fall semester, both Kelly and Rucker told their stories.

“Everyone was in awe, shock, some were actually in tears,” Zaret said.

Kelly had just come back from Nancy’s Lettering to put a poem on a plaque for Rucker, when he received the news about Milks.

The poem was about Yacob.

Rucker appreciated Kelly giving him the plaque with the poem on it to remember Yacob.

“The poem was special because he didn’t even know Rebecca. He has a great heart,” Rucker said. “I want people to realize that helping with drunk driving is something you have to want to do.”

After Kelly had learned his friend has been killed, he turned to the poem for support.

“I didn’t know what to do and I read the poem and it really hit me and it just made it that much more powerful,” Kelly said. “It was a poem for Rebecca that I wanted him to either keep or give to her family. It sort of dealt with the issue of her passing and how to deal with it and we’re all going to remember her.”

Rucker hopes Eastern’s campus remembers Yacob by continuing R.F.Y’s mission.

“We have big goals in mind for R.F.Y. We want to help people as well as

spread the word on prevention of drinking,” Rucker said. “We work hard and won’t be

denied. R.F.Y has no limit here at Eastern and further down the road. R.F.Y will

be known all over and everyone will hear our stories.”

R.F.Y. is working toward having Jan. 28 , the day of Yacob’s death, be proclaimed R.F.Y. Day in Charleston.

R.F.Y meetings are every other Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. at the Panther Academic Service.

Ashley Mefford may be reached at 581-7945 or at almefford@eiu.edu.

Kelly said he now understands the importance of a group on campus that educates college students on drinking related incidents. (Karla Browning/The Daily Eastern News)

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Matt Kelly, chairman of University Mothers Against Druck Driving, lost his best friend to a drunk driver in November of 2007. He now is able to relate to the purpose of the program now that his friend has passed. (Karla Browning/The Daily Eastern News)

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