The Kaiden Garner Project hosting child abuse prevention walk-a-thon in Sheffield
“It was kind of a hard pill to swallow being abused yourself and to have your grandchild to die from the same abuse that you lived to the point where I just couldn’t sit on it anymore,”
SHEFFIELD, Ala. (WAFF) - A walk-a-thon will be held Saturday, May 22, in Sheffield to raise awareness for child abuse following the death of a 3-year-old boy who was killed in August 2020.
It comes nine months after three-year-old Kaiden Garner was killed in Florence. A pain that trickled down to a new generation.
“It was kind of a hard pill to swallow being abused yourself and to have your grandchild to die from the same abuse that you lived to the point where I just couldn’t sit on it anymore,” said his grandfather, Lesley Garner.
Kaiden’s father is being charged with capital murder and his father’s girlfriend is being charged with child abuse.
“Myself being a child abused as I was growing up, I had sat on it all these years and I thought it was over with but the death of my grandson is what inspired me to do something,” said Garner.
Lesley is turning his pain into purpose by starting the Kaiden Garner Project. The goal is to raise awareness of child abuse throughout the community.
“There’s nothing else that I can do for Kaiden. There’s nothing else that my daughter can do for her son, but my hope is if we can just save one life, his death would not have been in vain,” said Garner.
The foundation is hosting its first event this Saturday, a walk-a-thon in honor of Kaiden that will raise awareness about child abuse.
The event will be held in memory of Kaiden Garner at 9 a.m. in Avalon Park. Event organizers said the walk will begin at Helen Keller Hospital. There will be guest speakers in attendance, activities for kids and free food, according to the event flyer. This event is free of charge.
“3 million child abuse cases are reported each year, if we could help save the life of just one child, we’ve accomplished our goal,” said a representative with the Kaiden Project on a Facebook post.
Garner said he wants the community to show up because it takes a village to help children
“The community is so powerful because they are the eyes and they are the ears for these children that are getting abused,” said Garner.
If you would like to get involved in the foundation, there’s a meeting this Friday at the Sheffield city municipal building at 4 p.m.
Face masks and temperature checks will be required. For more information on this event contact WZZA radio at 256-381-1862 or Kaytrina Simmons at 256-349-3879.
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