For Karina

On May 10th, our beloved daughter, sister, niece, aunt and friend, Karina Kinnear, died from coronavirus. She was 48. Loved by all who had the good fortune to know her, she was the shining and gentle center of our family. Her bravery was heroic, her sense of joy unbounded. She was tough, funny, anarchic, with as many different laughs as there are days of the year. We can only begin to guess how much we’ll miss her.  

In response to her death many people have asked where they may make a donation in Karina’s name. Hence me setting up this page. Its ambition is to continue the work that was begun in Karina’s, and my father’s, name.

In 1994, frustrated at the lack of provision available for people with the care needs that Karina had, my mother, Carmel, began fundraising to build a home for young adults with severe physical and mental difficulties. Roy Kinnear House opened in 2000.

Now run by the independent charity, Choice Support, we are looking to raise money to both restore and transform the large sensory garden at Roy Kinnear House. It is where the above photograph was taken and a place Karina loved to be pushed in her wheelchair.

We’d hope, with your support, to transform it in Karina’s name and memory into a place of fun, interactivity, happiness and calm. A place, like the house itself, that offers to those with the greatest needs a small corner of the world designed exclusively for them.

Below is an article I wrote for the Guardian about Karina’s joyful and enriching life.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/12/rory-kinnearsister-protect-vulnerable-coronavirus-rory-kinnear