Watch CBS News

Peninsula Mother Fights Violence With Foundation Honoring Her Son

SAN MATEO COUNTY (KPIX 5) September 17, 2004 is a night Giants' fans won't forget: Barry Bonds hit his 700th home run. But that night changed Stacey Redman forever.

"I remember being at home thinking, "Oh, I'm so glad Tim's there to see that,'" she recalled.

Her son, Tim Griffith, did see it. But then suddenly, in the postgame celebration, the 21-year-old fell victim to a random act of violence, stabbed to death not far from AT&T Park.

"That was the night he was killed," she said.

Redman was determined that her son would not be just another statistic. That's when the "Tim Griffith Foundation" took flight.

"I talked with some friends of mine who never had anything to do with non-profits and we decided, 'We're going to start something and we're going to work on anti-violence,'" she explained. "That was our original kind of mission."

The foundation has since branched out to include grief counseling for parents who have lost a child, sponsoring a counselor at Sequoia High School in Redwood City to help students who are coming out of juvenile hall, and a sober living house in Redwood City for young men coming out of rehab. It's called "Tim's House" and is run in partnership with the Bridges Program and the Service League of San Mateo County.

"The violence was because I wanted to prevent it from happening to anyone else," Redman explained. "Tim's House, helping young guys with addiction, was about Tim's path. And the loss, the grief retreats we do for moms, and now we just started doing them for dads who've lost children, was really out of my own need for something like that."

Gavin Smith is living at Tim's House. It gives him a place to call home while he completes treatment for addiction.

"I go to 3 AA or NA meetings a week," he said. "I've done time before so doing time is easy. I decided to try something different and be a little more proactive and do something with my life other than just do what I'd been doing."

He says he knows Tim would approve.

"I talk to him every once in a while," he added with a smile.

"That's what I wanted," Redman said. "For those guys to feel that connection -- to feel taken care of there. It's not just a house; that there's much more behind it than that."

So for helping stop the violence, comforting grieving parents, and giving young men in recovery a home, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Stacey Redman.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.