Christopher Allen Legacy Fund
Donation protected
On August 26, 2017 our beloved son, Christopher Allen, a freelance journalist, was killed while reporting on the civil war in South Sudan.
We are devastated by the loss and cannot begin to imagine our lives without him.
We respect and admire Christopher, whose unyielding passion for journalism was driven by his desire to tell some of the world’s most critical stories. As loving parents, we were fearful whenever he entered a war zone and our hearts sank when we learned he was going to South Sudan. Yet Christopher was a truth seeker, committed to uncovering the full context of the stories he reported even when this required personal risk. His research was firsthand and thorough, and he cared deeply about the real people involved in and affected by conflict.
Like Christopher, we believe access to information is fundamental to a free and thriving society.
In his memory and with the same level of perseverance he gave to his craft, we are raising money to fund initiatives that reflect his values and passions. The funds will be used to support the work and safety of freelance journalists globally.
Chris published articles with Al Jazeera, Vice, The Telegraph, Ukrainian Echo, The Diplomatic Courier, Independent, Kyiv Post, Toronto Star, the Maghreb and Orient Courier and the Penn Gazette.
Below is a piece he wrote on page 46 of his article in the Penn Gazette. The three pages shown are his photographs that were included in the spread.
"I went to Ukraine a year after graduating from Penn and after completing my master’s degree in European history through a program at Oxford, the University of Leiden, and the Sorbonne. I left academia because I believed that out here in a place where humanity is at its most exposed and raw, I might better understand something fundamental about the way the world works and the way history is made—about who people really are.
I came here to get as close to the conflict as I could, to see how it was being fought and why, to better understand the lives of those fighting it and those affected by it, and to try to grasp the history unfolding here. I believed there was an important story to be told. What I found was a situation immune to the reductive efforts of media to define and describe it."
We will update this page as we agree with partner organizations on how to honor Christopher's work and legacy.
Thank you for your support.
We are devastated by the loss and cannot begin to imagine our lives without him.
We respect and admire Christopher, whose unyielding passion for journalism was driven by his desire to tell some of the world’s most critical stories. As loving parents, we were fearful whenever he entered a war zone and our hearts sank when we learned he was going to South Sudan. Yet Christopher was a truth seeker, committed to uncovering the full context of the stories he reported even when this required personal risk. His research was firsthand and thorough, and he cared deeply about the real people involved in and affected by conflict.
Like Christopher, we believe access to information is fundamental to a free and thriving society.
In his memory and with the same level of perseverance he gave to his craft, we are raising money to fund initiatives that reflect his values and passions. The funds will be used to support the work and safety of freelance journalists globally.
Chris published articles with Al Jazeera, Vice, The Telegraph, Ukrainian Echo, The Diplomatic Courier, Independent, Kyiv Post, Toronto Star, the Maghreb and Orient Courier and the Penn Gazette.
Below is a piece he wrote on page 46 of his article in the Penn Gazette. The three pages shown are his photographs that were included in the spread.
"I went to Ukraine a year after graduating from Penn and after completing my master’s degree in European history through a program at Oxford, the University of Leiden, and the Sorbonne. I left academia because I believed that out here in a place where humanity is at its most exposed and raw, I might better understand something fundamental about the way the world works and the way history is made—about who people really are.
I came here to get as close to the conflict as I could, to see how it was being fought and why, to better understand the lives of those fighting it and those affected by it, and to try to grasp the history unfolding here. I believed there was an important story to be told. What I found was a situation immune to the reductive efforts of media to define and describe it."
We will update this page as we agree with partner organizations on how to honor Christopher's work and legacy.Thank you for your support.
Organizer
Joyce Krajian
Organizer
Narberth, PA