 Community members gathered at the Pikeville City Park over the weekend for an event to bring awareness to child and human trafficking. Organizers say that this public event was to speak out and be a voice for those whose cries are never heard. Well, I feel like enough people don't take it seriously or think that it isn't as common as what it is. And I'm not a mother, but I have a seven-year-old sister and I look at her every day and I see what's on the news. And I just couldn't imagine, you know, if that was her or somebody that I knew. But I know the stuff is going on right under our noses, people, you know, we may see every day and just we have no idea. I feel like this is something everybody should be able to get behind, you know. It's not race, politics, religion, so they should be able to get behind it. Ricky Lin, a supporter who attended the event, says that with all that is going on in the world today, people are not thinking about the fact that human trafficking is still a major issue. So this past year we've had with COVID everybody isn't thinking about human trafficking. You're thinking about everything else. And I think it's exciting to be in Pikeville today just to have people think about other people, think about children. So without people being advocates, this probably will just keep going. Pastor Richard McKinney believes that coming together as a community to bring awareness to issues such as child and human trafficking will help open the eyes and ears of those who are skeptical of these issues occurring in the region. It is the most vulnerable of our population, which are our children. And it's up to adults to oversee this and to bring attention to it. Because even though we're in a small town, we still have big city problems here. And we want to always remember our youth. That's why we're very active with our youth in Sunday school and different things with the church that I pastor. But also in the community, just because we're a small town, we're not immune from human trafficking. It is something that's very real in our area. It's hard to define and detect because it is a covert operation. So even our national statistics are just guessing at how many children are involved in this. So just pray for our children and let's protect our most precious commodity, if you will, and that is our kids. I just think people need to think these are innocents, you know, and they're being corrupted. They have no choice in it. They don't choose this. And, you know, if we don't speak out for them, then who will? Reporting from the Pikeville City Park, I'm Jeremy Justice with Mountain Top News.