Students, parents and leaders gather

The success of Renee Purvis’s one-day ‘Save Our Kids’ event could become a quarterly occurrence, according to the organizer.

The E.J. Hayes Alumni Center was packed last week, launching Operation SOY in an attempt to shed light on the problems facing the community’s youth.

Save Our Kids (SOY) brought over 100 parents, children, religious and community leaders together last Friday to address concerns stemming from a Williamston shooting involving seven Williamston area youth. One young male was fatally shot. The other six face murder charges.

The shooting shattered the community familiar with the incident and those families involved.

Immediately following the shooting, Purvis began laying the groundwork for the SOY, hoping to bring attention to the problems the community’s youth face.

“Operation SOY is a grassroots initiative to provide healthy options to our local youth following the tragic events that occurred on July 4th. We lost a 15-year-old young man as well as the future for at least six school-aged youth,” said Purvis.

“The residual effects run deep and I personally cannot enjoy the comforts of my home knowing our community is in crisis. Young people need to see love and compassion in action.”

Almost 65 young people and 50 parents attended the three hour event that included lunch, music, entertainment, McDonald’s gift cards, drawings and the grand prize — a television and a tablet.

“The youth were engaged. Minister K.J. Reid kept them pumped by asking the audience to standup while he had the DJ play some popular songs while he did certain line dance moves on the stage, including The Wobble and the Cha Cha Slide,” said Purvis.

“One of the most defining moments was when Mr. Ron Byrd spoke during the open mic session. He shared his not-so-glamorous upbringing in Jersey which included visitors to his brother in prison and losing two brothers prematurely to drug overdoses,” said Purvis. “He described one brother feening and the way his arm would jerk. Due to the intravenous drug use he died from HIV/AIDS.

“Byrd gave the youth some tough love,” Purvis continued. “He spoke on decades of experience as an educator (principal) and his first hand observance of students coming to school unprepared and failing to give 100 percent.”

Reid also spoke on the ability to make choices in life.

“You don’t have to wait on anyone to change you, you can be the change,” was Reid’s take away message.

The mental health crisis affecting the country’s youth is a national problem and has become a local concern.

In 2021, 67 children in North Carolina died by suicide between ages 0 and 18. The death rates of those aged 0–17 by use of firearms from 2020 to 2021 in North Carolina increased by 231 percent. Depression, anxiety and behavioral disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents. Purvis looks to alleviate the causes of these problems.

Purvis was encouraged by the participation and is now looking to grow SOY and hold quarterly events, but cannot do it alone.

“I made an appeal at the end of the event for churches, businesses, sororities, fraternities and concerned leaders to partner so we can offer this type of event quarterly,” said Purvis.

Currently, Purvis is looking for volunteers and a few people to take on leadership roles within the group. She recently launched a public page on Facebook called Operation S.O.Y. The page is a virtual forum to discuss pertinent youth-related topics, explained Purvis.

“There is a need for concerned parties to collaborate so we can have continuity with community based programs to help our youth grow. There are numerous caring people in our community. My prayer is that we will come together because there’s no doubt that we are better together,” said Purvis.