What at first began as a town hall meeting at the Maggie Trejo Supercenter to discuss new ideas and possible changes for areas throughout District One quickly erupted into an emotional discussion about spreading more awareness of Lubbock’s missing children.
A group of advocates for those who have ever gone missing along with those children’s families and friends were invited to speak after the meeting on Monday night. However, 45 minutes in, Nina Valdez, representing Zoe Campos’ family and other missing children’s families, said she had to speak up.
“It was slowly abuilding up inside,” said Valdez. “They were talking about cleaning up the community and taking down this abandoned houses and what they can do for the community, and I was thinking, ‘well what can you do for the community?’ Which is, it starts with everybody’s needs.”
One objective of the town hall’s agenda was to discuss what to do about some of the abandoned buildings lingering in district one. Valdez and her team already had an idea in mind: creating a resource center for families of those whose children have ever gone missing.
“They need a place where they can go and get the help that they need, and the resources that they need. These are families hurting and families who want to unite as one.”
Despite the sudden disruption of the meeting, Valdez says she and her group were pleased to see attendees agreeing to what they had to share.
“It’s all about unity,” spoke up Lola Chavez, one of the meeting goers. “Get together with all of us. I’m happy to get with you guys in any way that I can.”
However, until those goals are reached and more awareness is created, Valdez is calling on the Lubbock community to ask themselves:
