Stop The Violence

In the year 2000 Ms. Lueana Coward decided that senior citizens that had lost a loved one needed support this was after she witnessed her on mother going through the grief of losing her husband. She held a yearly event on South 2nd Street of Duquesne celebrating the living and acknowledging their loss.

In 2001 Ms. Coward lost one of her sons to gun violence on the Friday before Mother’s day. This planted a seed in Ms. Coward to help mothers that lost their children to gun violence and also create awareness on the fact that violence in our community was spreading like a deadly disease.

On Dec 11th 2005, Ms. Coward lost her second son to gun violence. As she tried to cope with the grief of losing two sons she wrote an anti-violence song titled Murder in commemoration of her two sons and other murder victims in 2006.

On April 16th 2012 Ms. Coward lost her third, youngest and last son to violence. On the same street she lost first son but on the opposite corner. RELIEF- Informal Support Group is an organization that was established to help families accept their loss by way of monthly support groups, hospital visits, home visits, wake visits, candle lit vigils and providing information on the grieving process. RELIEF and a few parents have partnered to provide mentoring to at-risk adolescent boys by working to implement positive behavior change earlier in life. We have partnered with a local funeralhome to provide discounted rates to families that have been referred by RELIEF.

RELIEF continues and hopes to end the cycle of violence.