Kelly Wilkinson: How Tamika Smith secured house and land deal for slain mum’s kids
One woman, 48 hours, no sleep and the final phone call: How Tamika Smith pulled off a house and land package for slain Kelly Wilkinson’s family of now eight kids. SEE THE INSIDE STORY
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Gold Coaster Tamika Smith’s mission to secure a house and land package for the family and children of slain mother Kelly Wilkinson started on Wednesday afternoon.
By Friday night, she’d had barely a wink of sleep after fielding 100s of emails, calls and texts of support from the construction sector, city MPs, lawyers, public relations experts and consultancy Urbis offering any help they could.
She received the final call she’d been waiting for that evening – about a building site offer.
A donor had a block of land for the Wilkinsons. It was the real sticking point in the project which could not start without one.
Ms Smith, a construction entrepreneur, told the Bulletin: “Getting that phone call I did absolutely have tears running down my cheeks, down my face.
“It wasn’t like ‘yes we won’ or anything like that, it was just this real sense of peace knowing I did what I had to do and perhaps what I was meant to do for those kids. There’s a sense of accomplishment that comes with knowing you’ve done your job.”
She paid tribute to LNP’s Bonney MP Sam O’Connor for being instrumental in helping spread the word: “Politicians are often showcased for what they do wrong but here’s a perfect example of what a good politician should be.”
The securing of a site means work can begin soon on building a big enough house for Kelly’s three kids – aged two to eight. They are now living with their aunty Danielle and her husband Rhys with their five kids.
The couple have a four-bedroom house, with sleeping arrangements now spilling into the lounge.
They are “beyond thankful” at the generosity shown by the construction industry and land donor, Ms Smith said.
“The family is overjoyed, they couldn’t be happier,” she said.
“Kelly had a dream when her mum passed away that she would have a brand new house surrounded by sunflowers.”
Ms Smith launched her campaign to mobilise the sector via social media followed by prominent coverage in the Bulletin and on 7 News Gold Coast before it went national including an appearance on Channel 10’s The Project.
“Everyone is beyond grateful for the humility of everyone who has come together, we couldn’t be more thankful for the construction industry,” Ms Smith said.
“I’m really proud of my industry - an industry in which 90 per cent of men step up and say we’re not okay with what happened and we want to do something more - and we’re going to do what we can to protect those kids.”
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Kelly, 27, was set alight in her Arundel backyard two weeks ago. Estranged husband Brian Earl Johnston - has been charged with murder, breaching a domestic violence order and breaching bail.
Ms Smith, a construction industry entrepreneur who founded Top 100 Women to foster female careers in the sector, has a close family connection to the Wilkinsons and revealed last week spending time with them had prompted her to launch the house build campaign.
At the time, she recounted a touching moment visiting Kelly’s children: “I was standing there and the little girl grabbed my hand and looked up at me and said ‘mummy’.
‘At first I thought she was saying ‘Tammy’ because the kids call me Tammy, and she said Mummy. I think at that point, just feeling a little girl’s hand hold, it just broke my heart but it made me go ‘we need to do more here’.
“This isn’t a moment to be sappy, this isn’t a moment to have a pity party; this is the moment to step up and show these kids we do care and we are going to back them in a terribly tragic situation.”
Asked on Saturday night after clinching the site that Friday if she had slept in the past 48 hours, she said: “Look I didn’t.
“I do have a habit of trying to find the threshold. I didn’t stop, I don’t think I’ve really slept in two days, but my motivation was those kids and I was not going to let them feel defenceless and feel like the world was a bad place when I knew we could have given them something good. I just didn’t want for them to be left feeling like this just happened and that’s just the way it is.”
Ms Smith said more than 200 businesses had now approached to say “Hey, we’re in with you, we’re going to back you”.
“There is a community of thousands within those businesses that are saying we’re taking a stand against this and we stand with Kelly.”
The land donor was a family “who reached out and just said ‘we really want to put this forward, our kids have seen the story and are really moved by it and we want to do what we can to help - so hey this is here if you want it’.
“This family has been like everyone on the Gold Coast - immensely touched,” she said.
She is not stopping now.
“There’s definitely going to be gaps that we need to fill so I would still encourage everyone to email in; we are going through the list as we look to get together with the project managers and builders involved. You know what has been beautiful, there’s people that only have $20 and that’s what they give. It’s been so generous to have an entire block of land donated but there’s people that have given all they have.”
TO CONTACT TAMIKA SMITH: Email info@top100women.com.au
TO DONATE TO THE FAMILY GOFUNDME: au.gofundme/f/help-kellys-children.
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