Children's Memory Garden

In 2016, Andrea Conte, founder of You Have the Power, collaborated with Metro Departments and victim advocates on upgrades to the Children’s Memory Garden in Centennial Park. The Garden, dedicated in 1996, was a place of comfort for families who lost a child to violence. Time unfortunately had taken its toll: the Garden was prone to flooding, lacked public awareness, and was not wheelchair accessible.

The work of the Children’s Memory Garden group resulted in plans for a professionally designed new Garden and a concept, Voices from the Garden, to tell the stories of children taken by violence. Voices from the Garden, an annual volume, is prepared by You Have the Power and includes the child’s photo and profile, much like a yearbook these children never had.

Voices from the Garden is dedicated to all children who lost their lives to violence. This website is about young lives cut short by violence. Each photo, each story, is a reminder they were like kids everywhere, with dreams and hopes and never doubting they would wake up in the morning to another new day. Their stories are an appeal for us to come together and redouble our efforts to keep all our children safe from harm. They were one of us and their message is a simple one:

“We were here. Please remember us.”

Andrea Conte,
Founder, You Have the Power