KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Kanye Harris would've turned 20 years old on June 7th. Sadly, he passed away in a car wreck in Knoxville last August.
"My little brother was just like a go-getter," said Anitrea Harris, Kanye's big sister. "He made sure that everyone in his family was taken care of, whether it was extended family, or immediate family. He showed people faith, gratitude, love, just a real stand-up guy for our family to show up that our what our family represents."
From Memorial Day to Labor Day, it's known as the 100 Deadliest Days of Summer. During this time, there's an increase in car wreck deaths of teens. The risk of a crash is higher among 16 to 19-year-olds than any other age group according to Teen Driver Source, a resource helping families prepare teens to drive safely.
"We've got, of course, a lot of traffic in the area," said Tom Marsh, a driving instructor for Drive 4 Life Academy. "This seems it's just picked up in the last couple years, especially. But we do have areas that seem to have more crashes than others, and I know those have been addressed, you know, and they're looking at ways to make that safer."
Per mile driven, teen drivers aged 16 to 19 are nearly three times more likely to be in a fatal crash than older drivers.
"I think that it's important that we address driver education in the state, I see an alarming number of students between the ages of 16 and 20 in my traffic school classes that have not had any formal driver education because it's not mandatory in Tennessee," said Marsh.
To celebrate Kanye's birthday, his family hosted a balloon release at his gravesite.
"What we did was in his honor, just decided to get together for his birthday and celebrate him," said Sheila Carter-Harris, his mother. "He has a very large legacy that we are trying to keep and to keep him in memory with his friends, family and coaches, teachers, he was just loved and touched so many hearts."
His father, Maurice Harris, said he was a great son. One of his sisters said people traveled from all over to be there.
"We all gathered here to celebrate Kanye's 20th birthday, which was yesterday, but we came together as a family to celebrate today (June 8)," said Jasmine Harris. "We had family coming from Virginia, Washington and Atlanta out here to celebrate my baby brother. We are very, very thankful that they was here to make it to celebrate with us today. Yeah, we see all of them as family now everybody has just become one big family where there's coaches, his teammates, schoolmates, everybody is just we all a big family now. And it was a great turnout."
His family said they want people to remember him for his kind and caring personality.
"My uncle was so sweet," said his niece London Harris. "Every single time I call him, he answer. Every single time I test him, he answered like, if I needed a ride, he'll take me. And my uncle was just always there for me and stuff like that."
Sheila said people also tell her they'll remember his smile.
"Kanye had the most beautiful smile," said Sheila. "Everybody says his smile. Every time people talk to us or speak to us, they say 'I remember Kanye's smile. He lights up a room.' So yeah, he was a light. He was our light."
Sheila said she plans to hold events serving others, in celebration of his life.
"Kanye was studying culinary arts, and he had a big thing, a big heart of helping others, and one way he did was he volunteered to feed the homeless on his own," said Sheila. "No didn't have any agency or organization, he just did it on his own as well as he worked at the animal shelter. So he had a real big heart."
Kanye's family plans to feed the homeless on August 10 and on October 19, they will hold a 5k run and walk. The rain date for the walk is October 26. More details for both events, are still to come.