Chess Tables in Memory of Kye Andreopoulos

Summary

In memory of Kye Andreopoulos, a dear friend, beloved son, and avid chess player we are raising $12,000 to install three outdoor chess tables and one bench in the City of Toronto. Kye was a great friend, and an incredibly special person. He died by suicide on December 29th, 2020. Since then, my friends and I have struggled to cope with his loss and how to make sense of his death.

Due to the tireless efforts of Kye’s mother, Christine, and the incredible generosity of the City of Toronto, we have been given an opportunity to remember Kye, and to honour those who lost their lives due to a lack of support and resources for mental illness over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

If you are a friend of Kye’s, somebody who is moved by his story or just a community member we ask you to consider contributing to this project. Thank you so very much for taking the time to read.

About This Project

Towards the end of his life, Kye, lost the ability to work at his regular efficiency. Kye’s mother, Christine, retired from her 15 year teaching career early to support her son and help him navigate the challenging world of mental health services. She reached out to many of Kye’s friends and coordinated his care and well being.

My friend Kye went missing in February of 2020 for a few days, re-appearing at Stratford Hospital some 160KMs away from Toronto. Christine travelled to Stratford to meet with Kye and – given his mental condition – decided to just simply move to Stratford that day. They lived there for three months at an airbnb.

Kye and Christine returned to Toronto where she tried to find him greater care at CAMH. Kye was assigned a resident psychiatrist, who likely was working under a crushing workload and dealing with the stress of working during the COVID Pandemic. Kye did not receive the support he needed and we lost him.

Christine gave up everything to support her son. Since his death I have been moved and inspired by her efforts to find peace and meaning in life. For months, Christine has been seeking a way to honour her son’s legacy. Over coffee two weeks ago she told me that she had found a way.

While walking through Kye’s favourite childhood park (Sibelius Square in the Annex), Christine recognized there were no chess tables. She then realized that very few of Toronto’s parks have chess tables. She thought of her son’s passion for the game and how he once had lamented that Toronto does not have the same chess culture that exists in cities like New York where strangers meet and play each-other throughout the city and find community and connection.

Christine contacted her local councillor, Ana Bailão, as well as Mike Layton and shared Kye’s story. She asked about how she may contribute three chess tables and a bench to two of Toronto’s parks. The councillors were incredibly supportive of her initiative to build community in Toronto’s parks in honour of her son. She learned from the councillors that a faster method would be to simply buy the tables and bench from a private company and donate them to the city.

Yet, the cost of the three tables and bench was approximately $19,000. Simply pouring the concrete at three locations would be over $8,000. Undeterred, Christine contacted Mike Layton and Ana Bailão’s offices once more and offered to purchase the tables, bench and to cover the cost of the concrete pouring. Moved by Kye’s story, Doug Bennett and Paul Brown on behalf of the City of Toronto gracefully offered to cover the cost of the concrete pour. Knecht & Berchtold generously reduced their delivery fees by 50% to support this campaign. 

When I learned that that a single parent on a fixed income bought three tables and a bench for $12,000 and was prepared to pay $19,000 to honour her son’s legacy I was incredibly moved. With her permission I asked that I share this story with the community so that anyone who would be willing to contribute to Kye’s chess tables may do so. I am seeking to assist Christine in recouping the $12,000 she spent to honour her son.

Any funds raised in excess will be donated to the the Chess Institue of Canada (https://chessinstitute.ca/). 

We thank you for taking the time to read Kye and Christine’s story and hope you consider contributing.

About Kye Andreopoulos

Kye Andreopoulos was one of the coolest people I knew. He grew up in the Annex here in Toronto, attending Palmerston Ave Public School. It was here that Kye first met the late Ted Winick, founder of the Chess Institute of Canada. Mr. Winick asked Kye to volunteer at his organization sparking a lifetime of interest in the game.

Kye would later attend the Toronto French School in his middle years. After the death of his father, he attended Jarvis Collegiate Institute. Kye was a gifted musician who learned to play the piano at a young age. He traded piano for his true passion, the drums when he was in high school. After graduation, he took a gap year where he volunteered across Canada with the Katimavik program helping to build homes and teach drumming among other activities.

Kye would go on to attend Queen’s University in Kingston. In this third year he was one of two recipients to receive a full scholarship to attend St. Andrews University in Scotland. Kye graduated with an Economics degree in 2014.

Kye was a very self-assured and charismatic person, which to our great sorrow is probably why we lost him too early in life. Kye was the kind of guy people turned to for help or support, and my friends and I later came to realize that he concealed a lot from us to show strength while supporting us.

A few years after graduating university and while working in business and software development here in Toronto, my friend Kye developed Bipolar disorder. Gradually, his mental illness took a greater toll on his life. Kye sought help from CAMH, psychiatric hospitals in the GTA and local emergency support services over the course of his illness.

Tragically, the COVID-19 Pandemic placed restrictions on in-person access to many of these services. Efforts to place Kye in a residential care centre or to get him the support he needed were greatly hampered by the public health lockdowns in the Toronto-area. Moreover, the pandemic restrictions themselves isolated Kye from others.

Between the meds, and lack of mental health support Kye ended his suffering on the 29th of December, 2020.

It is hard to write these words and to talk about Kye. Even though eight months have passed since his death I still feel I could give him a call and meet him for another game of chess. He was more than his mental illness and the tragedy of his loss has been incredibly difficult to process.