Over 350 people crowded into Carroll Green Civic Center in Quitman for the annual candlelight vigil bringing awareness to child abuse. The Wood County Child Welfare and Protection Board sponsored the event which was moved from Jim Hogg City Park due to potential bad weather.

Combined elementary school choirs from Quitman, Mineola and Winnsboro totaling 155 youngsters performed for the audience.

Special speaker for the evening was Winnsboro attorney Sarah Doke.

“It’s kind of funny I ended up speaking here today because I didn’t go to law school to work with families. I was dumb and figured I would graduate from law school and go straight to sit on the Supreme Court,” Doke said. “Instead, I passed the bar and promptly had four kids. When we moved our four young children from Galveston County to East Texas, I just needed a job, and boy did I find one. I added my name to the list of local attorneys who represent parents and children in CPS cases.”

Doke realized she had made assumptions that were wrong. “I assumed that kids were normally hurt by strangers, wrong. I assumed only ‘poor’ people hurt their children, wrong. I assumed everyone had access to doctors and counselors, wrong. I assumed everyone in the United States had enough to eat, a warm bed, a good education and a loving family and boys was I wrong, wrong, wrong.”

Doke continued speaking about wrapping a family in love.

“It comes down to building relationships. It means supporting the Wood County Child Welfare Board and the Child Advocacy Center in Winnsboro with your time, talents and tithes. It means paying attention to your community. Get involved with civic groups and support local schools,” Doke noted. “Don’t forget the power of prayer and make friends with someone who looks like they need a friend. Stand up, speak up, judge fairly, defend the broken and actively practice wrapping children and families in love.”