MOULTRIE — Friends and loved ones gathered to attend the Serenity House annual Candlelight Vigil on Thursday.

The vigil, which is in its 23rd year, was first held just prior to the launch of an initiative to establish a domestic abuse shelter in Colquitt County. The initiative was a community response to the murder of Moultrie Observer reporter Kim Nunez, who was killed on June 9, 2000, by her estranged husband after weeks of trying to hide from him.

This year’s event was held at Lily Pond Farms Event Center. Kristi Griffin, the board chair of Serenity House, opened the program, “Thank you for being here this evening as we remember the lives that have been lost to domestic violence. Unfortunately, this is an injustice that occurs far more often than we know. One in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime.”

She went on to say that this year alone, the Serenity House has received 485 crisis calls from individuals needing assistance, which indicated the need for the “life-saving services” in the community.

Sheriff Rod Howell read and presented a proclamation plaque from the Colquitt County Board of Commissioners to Serenity House executive director Haley Clark, declaring that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Colquitt County.

Howell said that as supporters of the domestic violence shelter, he and Moultrie Police Chief Sean Ladson found it very important to rally around their Serenity House. He said that he provides Clark with an office space at the Sheriff’s Department.

“I do that so that the victims can feel safer about coming to an environment hopefully where they get the services that they need and that they are okay,” Howell said.

He said he hopes that with today’s mistrust of law enforcement this can be a way to start building the bridge back.

“So it’s very important to me that they understand that we are there for them. We want her (indicating Clark) to be there for them and do whatever we have to do. The Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office and the Moultrie Police Department will never stop fighting to stop domestic violence,” he said.

Serenity House shelter manager Melissa Sparks read a poem before Kelly Wood, program assistant, introduced the guest speaker, Dallas Dickerson, owner of Mama D’s Sweet Shop.

“One night every October, I dress myself and the boys and I prepare to listen to another survivor of domestic violence but my story is very different. Tonight the story you’ll hear will be from a daughter who grew up without a mother,” she said.

She said that she couldn’t recall a memory that would highlight her mother’s life but her story could tell the effects that domestic violence had on her growing up. She said it could tell why she brings her children, who would never know their grandmother, every year to the candlelight vigil.

Dickerson told the audience that if they looked at the domestic violence victims list on their programs that they would see her mother’s name, Eve Dickerson, from 1987, and her aunt’s name, Lisa Watson, from 1998.

“Both of these ladies were killed by domestic violence at the hands of somebody who decided it was better for them to not be here,” she said.

She said that in her teen years she felt bitterness toward the memory of her mother because she left her and her sister. She said when she grew up and had children of her own, she realized that her mother had no choice.

“She did not leave us. She was taken. and there’s nothing she could have done about that,” Dickerson said.

She said that she brings her boys to the event every year so that they know what domestic violence can do and what it has done. She went on to say that she had always wondered why someone who was experiencing domestic violence didn’t get out of it until she experienced it herself.

“It’s not. It’s not easy. It is hard. and I try to think of my mother as a person who was trying to get out,” she said.

Dickerson said that she became close with her aunt as a little girl since her mother wasn’t there. When she became a teenager at 13, she said, her aunt was taken away from her.

“She was my friend. … She was everything my mother couldn’t be. … and then she was taken by domestic violence,” she said.

She said that it was hard to get past some of that stuff and, at 40 years old, it still doesn’t get any better.

“You just learn how to deal with it. You learn how to tolerate it,” Dickerson said.

She said that she could never bring her mother or her aunt back and, “If we don’t start taking a stand for some of this stuff and making people aware what’s going on in this world…”

Board member Eric Gonzales sang a song before the candlelight ceremony, which was led by April Hancock, an assistant DA of the Colquitt County District Attorney’s Office. She read the names of the victims as candles were lit by family members, assisted by her daughter, Brooke, and April Jones, a legal secretary for the office.

Julian Griner, pastor of Lifespring Community Church, gave the closing prayer.

Serenity House’s upcoming charity event, “The Moultrie-Colquitt County Masker Singer 2023” is scheduled for Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. at Withers Auditorium. Tickets are currently on sale at Ameris Bank on Main Street and the Brainstorm Marketing office, for $25.

For more information about the event or donation inquiries, please contact the Serenity House business line at 229-782-5394 or visit www.serenityhousega.org.