Mother's laptop giveaway aims to honor son killed by gunfire

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- There's not a day that goes by that the memory of 18-year-old Iseir George doesn't cross his mother's mind. The Albany State University college student was robbed of his life by senseless gun violence in Georgia.

"Iseir was my best friend. When I lost him, I lost my best friend. That's what he meant to me. He meant the absolute world to me. He was the one person in this world that did not judge me," said his mother, Aisha Drayton.

Two years ago, while on break from college, George was shot several times outside her home in Clayton County, Georgia where he stepped outside to make a call.

Police later caught his killer. His mom since uprooted her life from the Atlanta area to Philadelphia, her hometown.

"I don't want to sound cliché when I say it but the one thing I know is he would have wanted me to get up daily and do exactly what I'm doing. So I decided to revert that energy and that's to give back," Drayton said.

Drayton turned pain into positivity starting the non-profit "I's Vision" to help other families in need.

The gun violence in Philadelphia breaks her heart. In 2019, 119 kids were shot and 14 of them were killed. So far in 2020, we have seen 140 shooting victims under 18, and 19 of them are dead.

Iseir's mom says her son was a part of a mentorship group. So through "I's Vision" she is paying it forward. Right now, she's doing a laptop giveaway for students who write an essay about how gun violence and how COVID-19 has affected them.

"I'm hoping that with my doing this that it helps take the burden off this family, which is what Iseir's organization did for us," Drayton said.

She wants to make sure other youth like Iseir share his passion for education.

"Iseir was an amazing kid, he was very educated. He loves school from grade school through college," she said.

Essays must be emailed to Thedraytons4@gmail.com.