CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For 19 years, Deanna McKinney did everything for her son.
“I had my son when I was 18,” McKinney said. “I came from a dysfunctional background.”
McKinney said when her son, Tymel, became a teenager, she went back to school as motivation for him.
“They were trying to get him to drop out of school and go get a GED,” she said. “I didn’t want that, so I went back and got my GED.”
“When I moved to West Virginia from New York to give my son a better life, it was work to pay bills. I didn’t even have a chance to go back to school.”
McKinney, now 40, said she has thought about her son every day since his passing on April 23, 2014. He was shot multiple times on the porch of his Sixth Street home by D.J. Carter.
It was on that same porch Saturday — one day shy of the three-year anniversary of Tymel’s death — a disc-jockey was setting up her equipment.
McKinney held a block party to promote community support, something she said she felt was not available to her when Tymel, her only child, died.
“You don’t know what a person is going through when they lose somebody,” she said. “I didn’t have anything else to give me laughter or joy inside my household. When you meet people and they give you a hug and treat you with kindness, it really goes a long way.”
It was the third year McKinney had organized a block party. It was raining when the event began, yet it stopped as more people arrived.
Around $4,000 was raised for the event, which included free food, music and children’s games.
McKinney said Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Maryclaire Akers and Lt. Steve Cooper, Charleston Police Department’s chief of detectives, were instrumental in raising the funding.
“I don’t know exactly who donated to them, but I am extremely thankful,” she said. “They don’t know how much it meant to pull it off this year because we really didn’t have enough money to do anything.”
McKinney has been active in social activism since her son’s passing; she is the CEO of the GIFT (God is For Togetherness) Project, which strives to promote community unity and helping others move past loss. She has also been involved in several anti-violence marches.
But McKinney said it has been difficult moving on. She has struggled to find a job because of her son’s death, even though her family and friends have been supportive in multiple ways. She said she is afraid she may lose her house.
“Right now, I have bills piling up and I’m throwing a block party,” she said. “If God put something on your heart to do it, you have to make it happen. That’s just how I look at it.”
While those problems are on her mind, McKinney said the foremost concerns Saturday were the rain and making sure people ate enough hot dogs.
“I got nothing but love and food for you,” she said laughing.