By Alaina Bookman | abookman@al.com
This is another installment in AL.com’s series “Beyond the Violence,” which explores solutions that could make Birmingham safer, healthier and happier.
It has been four years since Sheree Kennon’s son was shot and killed. She is “turning her pain into a purpose,” she says, by helping other mothers.
Kennon founded What About Us, a Birmingham support group for women who have lost children and other loved ones to gun violence, after her son, De’Traio Whorton, 27, was shot and killed in 2021. After one of the deadliest years in Birmingham’s history, Kennon says the work is not over as she continues to turn her grief into support and advocacy for more families than ever before.
“We want to show you love. We want to show you that you’re not in this struggle alone, that you have a support team,” Kennon said. “We are all dealing with the same loss. And it’s not easy. Everyone needs support.”
She has turned her nonprofit from a kitchen table effort working with three other moms who had experienced tragedy, into a project that helped more than 120 families last year.
Sheree Kennon’s story: ‘I can help someone’
Kennon’s son was shot and killed by his friend while he was in a car, with his wife in the passenger seat. Whorton became one of 132 violent deaths in Birmingham in 2021.
“He was a loving father. He had two beautiful boys. He was a good guy and was very well known in the community,” Kennon said.
When she saw the crime scene, Kennon fell, leaving her with a fractured hip and difficulty walking. While dealing with her own physical pain, she also had to help take care of her son’s children, pay her own bills and figure out how she was going to start working again.
She said she remembers not wanting to get out of bed, bathe or even eat.
“Once that casket closes, you go home, in three to four months the phone calls stop. Your child is gone, and it’s like your household is falling apart. It’s really hard to understand all those different aspects that come along with losing a child or a loved one. You lose a piece of yourself,” Kennon said.
“It’s hard to fill a cup when you’re empty yourself, but once you begin to refill that cup, you begin to realize, ‘I can help someone.’”
Kennon began taking classes about trauma and learning more about her own grief. She decided to start her own nonprofit.
“God just kept saying, ‘You need to help the ones like you.’ And I stepped out on faith and got my proposal and plan together. I started from nothing at my dining room table. And we’ve been doing this ever since. We started with three moms. Now we have over 30 moms that come to the support meetings regularly.”
Today, What About Us offers grief counseling and assists families with victim’s compensation applications, burial and funeral planning.
In 2024, Kennon helped over 120 families fill out victim’s compensation applications, a process that can be grueling, slow and disheartening.
Kennon is a violence interruption specialist with the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s hospital trauma team and the Offender Alumni Association, a local group helping gunshot victims at the hospital.
Kennon also leads annual Stop the Bleed events. Last week, more than 30 people, from ages five to 70 years old, learned techniques to stop a bleeding wound and help save lives.
Some of her group’s members say they would not be alive if it were not for Kennon and the support of other mothers.
