Juvenile Court hosts third annual Trunk or Treat event

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — For the third year, Juvenile Court hosted their Candy Coated Trunk or Treat.

Dressed in their most creative Halloween costumes, dozens of kids gathered across the street from the Shelby County Juvenile Court for the annual event.

“It’s uplifting to see the community coming together like this,” said Barshara Davis.

Kids of all ages came out to get their share of treats.

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“It’s good,” said 15-year-old Timothy Massey. “It’s something fun to do with everybody here.”

However, Chief Administrative Officer Stephanie Hill said the event is about more than just passing out candy.

“Most people are very focused on the youth justice component of our work and have no idea that 75 percent of our work is child welfare,” Hill said. “So, many of these kids we’ve been working with since they were born, since they were very young.”

Hill told WREG that they want the community to know that the court’s main focus is ensuring families have the resources needed to thrive.

That’s why they partnered with numerous organizations to help them continue to achieve that goal such as the Chief Clarence L. Cash Jr. Firefighters Foundation who passed out free children’s coats.

“We try to give back to the community and meet the needs of the community that are not able to meet their own needs,” said CEO and President of Chief Clarence L. Cash Jr. Firefighters Foundation Cynthia Cash.

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Barshara Davis works with AFIRM, a program that provides resources to low-income fathers.

He said events such as this are needed to fill in those gaps in the community.

“Children at a young age when they think juvenile court, it’s negative because they used to bring them here to lock them up,” Davis said. “So, it’s like a negative past but it’s kind of like smoothing over and kind of like bringing kind of balance. That’s what it is, bringing balance.”

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