Mama Tot Announces Foundation On Son's Death Anniversary
It's been two years since Ophelia Nichols' son, Randon Lee was murdered. The popular TikToker, known as Mama Tot, shared some emotional thoughts while reflecting on her son's life in a recently shared video. She also shared that she set up a new foundation in honor of her son's life.
Ophelia Nichols Emotionally Opened Up On The Anniversary Of Her Son's Death
On the second anniversary of her son's murder, Nichols shared some emotional thoughts with her millions of TikTok followers.
"It's been two years since I lost my baby child today. And tomorrow will be his, would be, his 21st birthday," she said. "I can't lie. He was the one that I was mostly looking forward to turning 21, because when my other three children turned 21, we took them to the casino so that they could, we call it drinking and sinning. It's just a joke in our family."
She explained that the family was looking forward to taking the "baby" of the family out to celebrate his 21st birthday. Nichols continued her video by explaining that it's been two years since she's seen her son and since she's heard, "I love you, Mom" from him.
"It's been two years of heartache and hardships and tons of struggles because as anybody's that's had to live through grief, you know how difficult it is," she continued. "Probably one of the worst things in the world I would say, definitely. I'm doing my best not to turn this, or to make anybody else cry, cause I'd be crying at the drop of this video if I watched someone else's."
Ophelia Nichols Shared What She Did With The GoFundMe Money After Her Son's Funeral
After Lee's death, a GoFundMe was set up to help with funeral costs. The goal was far exceeded so Nichols explained what she did with that money.
"When I lost my baby child, a GoFundMe was created for funeral services, and we had to shut it off because people would not quit donating and the limit was already, they just didn't care," she said. "And we entrusted it after we paid for my baby child's funeral services and the headstone and everything, we entrusted it to the bank. And I knew exactly what I was gonna do with that."
Nichols' goal was to create a non-profit foundation in Lee's name because she wanted "his name to be known, not for a TikTok mom's son, I wanted his name to be known as Randon Lee." She wanted people to know the type of person he was.
"He was funny, but he did things Randon Lee's way. You couldn't tell him anything," she continued. "If you told him it was gonna turn out this way, it would be alright, I'll figure that out myself. And he did every single time. But he did things Randon's way."
'Randon's Way' Foundation Is Up And Running
When Nichols thought about starting the non-profit, the name "Randon's Way" came to her. She wanted to wait until the second anniversary of his death to announce the foundation.
"We chose this logo because everybody knows the story of the blue jay feather, but we chose the color blue because that was his favorite color," she explained. "But we also chose the heart because my baby child had a tattoo of a broken heart, so we used the blue jay feather to mend it back together and turned it into Randon's Way logo."
Nichols said that the foundation will be doing "anything and everything we want." The top priority of the foundation will be youth mentorship. She also wants the foundation to help parents in need.
"I can't wait for everybody to know Randon's name and how Randon liked to do things his way," she said. "We specifically waited for today for us to be able to announce it. And then tomorrow comes and we'll celebrate that 21st birthday and remember everything good about him."
Ophelia Nichols' Son Randon Lee Was Killed One Day Before His 19th Birthday
Nichols announced the sad news of her son's passing in a TikTok video on what would have been his 19th birthday in 2022. Lee was shot and killed at a gas station in Prichard, Alabama the day before his birthday.
In the video, she explained, "Today would have been my baby child's 19th birthday, but he was taken from me last night. Took from my children and my husband and our family. My son was murdered. He was shot."
Through her tears, she pleaded for anyone with information to come forward.
"The word has already gotten out and I'm just being overloaded with messages. And I need to let everybody know. But I'm doing this video for a reason. Because I need y'all's help."
A few hours after sharing that video, Nichols updated her followers in the comment section saying, "Just been told we have a lead on two individuals. I hope they see this video and know what they have done to my family."
An Arrest Was Made In August 2022
Mama Tot updated her followers that Reuben Gulley, 20, was arrested in connection to her son's murder in August 2022. In the video, she explained that she's "not happy."
"When situations like this happen, or other traumatic situations, I look at everything. I don't just look at this and this and make a decision or opinion. I look at everything," she explained. "When I seen that mugshot last night, I thought to myself, 'My goodness, he's just a baby.'"
According to police, Lee met up with two individuals at a gas station to sell them marijuana. Shortly after, Lee was shot by one of the suspects inside his car. The suspects fled the scene and Lee pulled out of the gas station and into another where he passed from his injuries.