Dear Home Assistant Community,
I wanted to take a minute of your time to let you know that one of the Jedis in our Discord Server, @Villhellm (William), who was actively involved with the Home Assistant community for a number of years, passed away right before Christmas of 2020 at the age of 27.
William was an active member in forums, and other discord servers related to home automation, including Dr. Zzs, DigiblurDIY, and many more. As a memorial to William, several of his online friends requested that the release notes for Home Assistant version 2021.1 detailed this untimely loss in a effort to take a moment to recognize his efforts and the support he provided to the Home Assistant community. The release notes also povided a link to a GoFundMe account (https://gofund.me/f14a5a4a) to help his surviving wife and family members. The idea was, to use a single release cycle of Home Assistant to give the Home Assistant Community a chance to help Villhellm’s family through these difficult times.
Since the start of the GoFundMe initiative, home automation enthusiasts have donated over $4,000.00, and at the end of the release cycle, every cent donated will be given to the surviving family members of William. I think it is important to note, that although there have been some very generous donations, a majority of the donations to date have been between $10.00 and $25.00. We are currently about half way through the release cycle, and are close to half way to our goal of $10,000.00.
So now I am here asking for your support of Villhellm’s family. Please take a minute and donate. Even a donation of $10.00 gets us one step closer to our goal.
We thank you for your support, and may William rest in peace!!!