(Photo: AP Images / Charles Rex Arbogast)Arthur Reed Jr., pastor of the The Calvary Light Pentecostal Church, posts a new message, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008, asking for prayer in support of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson's family across the street from where Hudson's mother and brother, Darnell Donerson and Jason Hudson, were killed Friday in their Chicago home.
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Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson and her sister have set up a new foundation for families of murder victims following the tragic deaths of her mother, brother, and nephew late last month.
The Hudson-King Foundation for Families of Slain Victims – named in honor of Darnell Hudson Donerson, 57, Jason Hudson, 29, and Julian King, 7 – will provide counseling and other needs for families who lost a loved one to a violent crime.
“The specific purpose of the foundation is to care for the needs of families who have lost relatives to a violent crime,” the Hudson family expressed in a statement. “This encompasses their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter as well as grief counseling.”
The foundation was established just a week after Hudson’s mother and brother were found murdered in their Chicago home. Hudson’s 7-year-old nephew was later found in an abandoned SUV.
The convicted felon questioned in the killings – Hudson's estranged brother-in-law, William Balfour – is being held until Dec. 3 hearing before the full Illinois Prisoner Review Board. A parole review official on Monday refused to release him, concluding that Balfour violated parole.
Balfour has been questioned, but not charged, in the killings. Authorities have called him a "person of interest."
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A groundswell of prayers, meanwhile, has been piling up for Oscar-winning actress and singer Hudson, who first found her voice in the Church.
The recent tragedy even drew the prayers of president-elect and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.
"Michelle and I were absolutely heartbroken to learn about this unimaginable tragedy, and we want Jennifer and to know that she is in our thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time," Obama said in a statement.
Hudson has often credited her rise to fame to her upbringing in the impoverished neighborhood on Chicago's South Side where she went to grade school and sang in church.
She also says it has been her family that has helped her stay grounded, noting that her fame hasn’t changed them.
"My faith in God and my family, they're very realistic and very normal, they're not into the whole limelight kind of thing, so when I go home to Chicago that's just another place that's home," she said in a recent interview with The Associated Press prior to the tragedies last month.
According to People magazine, Hudson and some of her relatives have been staying free of charge at the Trump International Hotel and Tower free of charge since their family members were found slain.
"She's a great girl," real-estate mogul Donald Trump told People on Monday at a benefit in New York. "And we're protecting them well. They are very safe."
It was unclear how long Hudson and her family would remain Trump's guests. Since checking into the hotel, the Oscar winner and former “American Idol” star has rarely been seen leaving the hotel.
