Thank you to WKRN News 2 for highlighting You Have the Power and The Children’s Memory Garden of Nashville.
Check out the full story here.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Children, no matter how innocent, are not immune to violent crime; they are among the countless number of victims senselessly killed in our community each year.
Centennial Park sits in the heart of Davidson County, but there is a structure you may not find at any other park.
“We felt like a lighthouse was very appropriate because what we are trying to do is to shed a light not only on these lives, but on our community to do better in the future,” said Cathy Gurley with the organization You Have the Power.
The open top of the lighthouse allows light to spill outward and become a beacon at night. The Garden Design was created by Nelson Bryd Woltz Landscape Architects.
The lighthouse holds limestone plaques engrained with the names of children, all taken violently in Davidson County.
“They were here; they were part of our community; it’s also important to remember them so we can perhaps start working together to find a solution so that no other child needs to be remembered here,” said Gurley. “These children were lost too soon.”
The latest volume of “Voices from the Garden,” featured the names of five children who were killed in 2022.
- Abiel Jafet Euceda Castro: May 21, 2009 to Aug. 22, 2022
- Nancy Mariela Choc Hernandez: Nov. 18, 2007 to Oct. 19, 2022
- Deacon Elijah Lane: May 20, 2022 to June 28, 2022
- Dominic J. Pirtle: March 3, 2005 to May 6, 2022
- Malia Januece Powell: Feb. 20, 2008 to June 20, 2022
Other children were lost to violence in 2022, but many of their cases are still under review.
The latest names aren’t just added with how they died, but instead focus on the life they lived. Malia Powell’s family described her as someone who “loved to be around people, and people loved to be around her.”
Dominic Pirtle’s family boasted about his cooking skills, stating, “Honeybun cake, earthquake cake, brownies…you know it, he could bake it.”