“Thank you all for coming tonight,” started Lauren Zastany, the executive director for the Northeast Texas Child Advocacy Center.

“You’re welcome,” piped up a young Quitman ISD student from the audience. Audience members laughed at the sweet comment.

In fact, students and kids were making the audience laugh, cry and feel emotions of all kinds throughout the evening of the Wood County 2025 Child Abuse Awareness, Preventions and Victims Right Candlelight Vigil April 22. The vigil was held in the pavilion at Jim Hogg City Park, as it has been every April for more than 10 years.

According to Jarrod Yeager, vice president of the Wood County Child Welfare and Protection Board, the goal of the vigil was to “give you a lot of information (about the reality of child abuse and how to stop it).

Speakers presented on topics such as the story of the blue ribbon, education and prevention of child abuse, and how to intercede for children in the community who may be abused and/or underrepresented. The vigil also featured an emotional rendition of “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone),” which was sung by more than 35 members of the Quitman ISD Youth Choir. 

Caitlin Graham, community educator coordinator and family advocate for the child advocacy center, pointed out that “(Child abuse) happens here, unfortunately. A lot of times, we want to think, ‘That’s a big city problem.’ But the reality is, it happens here in our small-town communities.” 

Graham recommends that, in order to keep children safe from abuse, community members and parents continue to raise awareness about the signs and reality of child abuse; make internet safety more of a priority, since she says that, in recent years, more predatory adults are reaching out to children online than in-person; and make sure that adults have open communication with children about what is acceptable interaction and what is not.

The vigil was heavily attended from many members of the community, individuals and organizations. Around 200 community members came to support the cause, and over 10 organizations such as CASA for Kids of East Texas, Guardians of the Children, Isaiah 117, and more came.

The overall feeling of the vigil was summed up by part of the invocation by Debbie Lyons, the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Winnsboro: “This is a challenge that we take on only with Your guidance to show us the way. For our human understanding of evil in this world – evil that allows anyone to hurt a child – is incomprehensible! But our appreciation of Your hope, and Your love, and Your peace knows no bounds. So, we trust in You, Lord God.”