SALT LAKE CITY — It will be an emotional moment for the Utes football team as the Utes celebrate Senior Day on Saturday, taking the time to honor both Aaron Lowe and Ty Jordan, close friends and teammates killed just months apart.
On Friday, Lowe's mother helped keep her son's memory alive through an act of kindness because she says Utah still holds a special place in her heart.
"He'll always be here because he loved Utah," said Donna Sterns of Aaron. "I've never met a set of people that were so loving and caring."
Sterns remains steadfast in her support of Utah, even though it's the place where tragedy struck in Sept. 2021 when Lowe was shot and killed outside a house party.
Friday night, Sterns was giving back to the community that her son immersed himself in as a member of the Utes football team.
"I did it in Dallas, my third-annual 'Sunday in Dallas.' and I just felt like that Utah needed to because this is where he'd have lived and he would have did it here," she said.
For the past few weeks, the Keep'em Smiling Alowe Foundation has been collecting coats, gloves, hats, and blankets at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Taylorsville and other locations.
It's believed well over 200 coats were collected.
"Amazing enough, I would say 75 percent of them are brand new that people have purchased," said family friend Georgia Wilcox.
During the event, members of the Utes football team helped distribute the items and serve a hot meal to about 100 homeless people who filed into Fill the Pot Ministry in Salt Lake City.
"To know that, you know, our service is helping someone, they don't always get a chance to get a hot meal and it makes you feel good to know that they're good," said Takka Jordan, Ty's aunt.
Jordan was killed on Christmas Day in 2020 when he accidentally shot himself while home in Texas for the holidays.
"I feel like it's a must that we give back because they've done so much for us," Takka said of Utah. "It's only right to give back to the community."
The act of kindness is important to Sterns because she says Aaron was giving during his short life. She said if Lowe had made it to the NFL, he'd have spent most of his money taking care of someone else.
"It brings me back to when he was in the ninth grade," she recalled. "I had bought a pair of Jordans and, as a single parent, Jordans was a lot of money, and he came home without them and I asked him what happened to his shoes and he said that he gave them to someone that needed them because I could buy him another pair."
Wilcox thinks both Aaron and Ty would be touched and honored to think that their memory has brought so much joy and happiness to people of all ages.
