Newham’s homeless community has come together to celebrate the life of Kelly Stewart who was murdered at the Memorial Community Church in Plaistow a year ago.
On the first anniversary of Kelly’s death, people who knew the 41-year-old mum of three attended a special event at the church to remember her ‘beautiful soul’ with a burst of pink balloons and acts of kindness reflecting Kelly’s personality, and her favourite colour.
Lola’s Homeless founder Lorraine Tabone said: “Kelly was homeless and her life was hard, but she was also lively, kind and had a great sense of humour. What happened to her was tragic, but a year on we want to remember Kelly as she really was, a beautiful soul. So many people loved and miss her, we want to celebrate the lovely person that was Kelly.”
Lola’s Homeless volunteers made sure there was a fitting legacy for Kelly by distributing 1,000 ‘Kelly’s kindness bags’ to different venues round the Borough, including hostels, care homes and Newham University Hospital mental health unit.
“We wanted to give back to people who have helped us and Kelly. She was well known in the area, people helped her because they enjoyed her company.”
A year on, Lorraine is anxious that we learn the lessons from what happened to Kelly, a young woman who was one of only a handful of people still living on the streets during lockdown last March.
Lorraine said:
Kelly had mental health issues and the system failed her. Before becoming homeless, she had a good life, she was a good mother before her troubles started. What happened to her can happen to anyone and we need to provide more support to prevent such tragedy happening to others.
Lorraine and supporters are currently planning a campaign for “Kelly’s Law” which would give local councils more powers to protect vulnerable homeless people like Kelly.
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