JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Grieving families and community advocates gathered Monday night to honor the lives of children taken too soon by violence.
The gathering was part of the 19th annual Unity Plaza event hosted by Compassionate Families, Inc. at Terry Parker High School.
Twenty children were honored Monday, bringing the total number to more than 300 over the last 19 years.
The event, which is designed to give the families of the children a voice, started with music, then each child's family was invited to stand in a circle as the children's names were read.
A brick with that child's name was added to the courtyard, securing the child's place at Unity Plaza. One of those children was 12-year old Savannah May Pfeiffer. She was killed after a car going more than 100 miles per hour slammed into the back of her family's car.
"Instead of taking her to school, kissing her goodnight, I go to a cemetery every day," said Savannah's mother, Patricia Smith. "I tell my daughter about the day and how much I miss her."
Smith remembers Savannah as an angel walking on earth. A little girl loved by all. Smith said life without Savannah is like living in a prison cell every day.
"You come right back to it, where it ended. At a gravesite, knowing that when that casket closed that is the last time you will ever see your child's face," Smith said. "It's like you're all alone. There is no early release. There is no time served."
Savannah's family and other families took comfort Monday in seeing their loved ones' pictures and their names inscribed on a brick at Unity Plaza, knowing the children who were lost to violence in the last year are not forgotten.
"Seeing his picture up there with the others, seeing that marker on the ground, that brick on the ground; he'll always be remembered. He'll never be forgotten by us," said George Gillis, whose 19-year-old great-nephew Christopher McDowell was killed by a hit-and-run driver.
Tamara Jones lost her daughter Kamilah Ureta in a shooting last year, leaving her grandson without his mother.
"It just really makes me feel good that she's not just forgotten. There were will always be memories, so when my grandson does come back, he can have a history of his mom," Jones said. "It's the beginning of his history."
As they stood holding candles, each person made a vow to honor their loved one. For Autumn Raulerson, that means fulfilling a promise to her friend, Savannah.
"Me and her were going to grow up to be veterinarians," Raulerson said. "I'm going to fulfill my dream and her dream."