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By STEPHANIE HAYES, Times Staff WriterFamily and friends will continue the generosity that an 8-year-old began on a visit to Colombia.
WESTCHASE - Eight years old, Kiana Appleby made friends wherever she went.
While visiting family in Colombia three years ago, she befriended two poor children playing in a stairwell. It was Christmas Eve, and Kiana decided to give presents to her new friends.
What else did they get for Christmas? she asked them.
"Both of the little girls looked at her, smiling and happy, and said, "This is all we got,' said Kiana's father, Keith Appleby. "These two little girls were beaming that they had gotten this gift from Kiana."
Kiana's parents want to help her giving spirit live on. Keith and his wife, Diana Appleby, are collecting toys to bring back to poor children in Colombia this Christmas.
They are carrying out what their daughter started. Kiana, who accidentally drowned in Westchase's swimming pool during swim team practice in May, started collecting toys for kids in Colombia shortly after her trip three years ago.
She collected fast-food restaurant toys and kept them in a large basket in her bedroom. The basket was so full it was overflowing, Keith said. When her friends came over to play, they always left with a toy, courtesy of Kiana.
"Kind of just, "Hey, since you came over to play with me, please take a toy,' " he said. "Since all this happened, a few of her friends now have that same kind of toy basket."
This Christmas, Kiana's family will have to distribute the toys for her. On a stormy day in May, her Dolphins swim team was ordered out of Westchase's pool. The other kids gathered under a shelter, and one child saw that Kiana was missing. Kiana was found in the deep end of the pool, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
The Applebys filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Westchase's community association, management company and swim team in November. The suit claims employees neglected to make sure everyone left the pool, and failed to walk around the pool or do a head count.
Sept. 11, which would have been Kiana's ninth birthday, was especially tough for the family. After Mass at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Carrollwood, family and friends came back to the Applebys' Westchase home.
"We were a little nervous about having people come over, just because we didn't want to look at this like a birthday celebration," Keith said.
Diana, who is from Colombia, suggested that guests bring a toy to donate in Kiana's name. After witnessing poverty in Colombia, it was something Kiana wanted, she said.
"I showed her how sometimes people in certain neighborhoods in Colombia live so poor that they don't have a house," Diana said. "Little children don't have toys. They play with a little stick and a rock."
The Applebys expected to add a few toys to Kiana's collection. What happened was very different.
"We absolutely filled up our living room with toys," Keith said. "Way more toys than we could ever take to Colombia."
The Applebys will fly to South America at Christmas, and they will take as many toys as baggage restrictions allow. The rest will go to Kiana's school, Citrus Park Christian School, which will donate the items to the children of migrant farm workers in Wimauma.
Angela Durbin, a volunteer at the school who is helping with the drive, knew Kiana. Her daughters were friends with Kiana. She says the school's drive reflects who Kiana was.
"I just know Kiana's heart, and she was the type of child that didn't think about herself and did think of others," she said.
So much so, that she was willing to donate her organs, Keith Appleby said. Earlier this year, Keith discussed organ donation with Kiana, who wanted to be a doctor. When she died, Kiana's corneas were donated to two different people.
"I asked Kiana if she would want to donate her organs if something tragic ever happened," he said, "and she said, "If I can help somebody else, absolutely."'
- Stephanie Hayes can be reached at 813 269-5303 or shayes@sptimes.com
Want to donate?Toys can be dropped off at Citrus Park Christian School, 7705 Gunn Highway. Canned goods and blankets will also be donated to migrant families in Wimauma. Call (813) 920-3960, ext. 226.