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Volunteers take stand against child abuse, help raise awareness

More than 200 people, among them half a dozen tough-looking bikers, spent an hour on their feet to show they will not stand for child abuse.

Children's Advocacy Center of the South Plains asked people to help raise awareness about child abuse by standing one hour during its Stand up for Children event Saturday between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at Miller Park as part of Child Abuse Awareness Month.

Carmen Aguirre, executive director of the center, said she had hoped 1,081 people would volunteer for the event to hold signs marked with ages and genders representing the 1,081 children and victims the advocacy center worked with in 2008, a year when the South Plains region had the second-highest per capita rate of child abuse in the state.

But she said she believes Saturday's windy conditions may have played a role in keeping some away from the park.

"They'd been talking about how windy and dusty it was going to be," she said, "but we decided to go ahead and do it anyway."

And the winds didn't stop performers such as Kenny Maines and Junior Vasquez from making music on the portable stage in the park.

As Maines and Vasquez played "Crazy About You" and "Lean On Me," respectively, members of the Lubbock chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse stood among the crowd, dressed in sunglasses, black leather vests and bandanas.

Members of the group said standing for the cause is just a small part of their mission.

"Abused kids are abused kids," said Twister, a member of the group. "It doesn't matter what organization it is. If they help abused children, we'll help."

The bikers' president, whose biker name is Moe, said members of the group prefer to go by their biker names to protect their identities, as the Bikers Against Child Abuse patch they wear is a "target on their backs" for the people from whom they protect children.

He said they also give biker names to the children of abuse whom they work with because it "makes them feel more a part of us."

While giving each other names can be lighthearted, the same can't be said about what the bikers try to do to protect abused children.

"Kids can't speak for themselves, so we need to speak for them," said Twinkie, a member of the biker group who also works as a special investigator for Child Protective Services.

Twister said the bikers try to help children not feel afraid after being in an abusive situation, and often talk on the phone or stay with the families of those who are afraid or just need help.

"They need support so they can return to eating and sleeping and all the things children should do," he said.

Moe said Bikers Against Child Abuse does not condone violence, but its members often help victims of abuse by providing "an obstacle" between them and the abuser if the abuser poses a threat.

Twister said his group's members often have had to form a barrier of protection around a house - sometimes for days at a time.

"We ain't leavin'," he said.

"Most of them are scared," he said of the children his group works with. "Most of them believe - even if they know their abuser is in jail - that they can still get into their room at night."

Becky Miller, who stood in the park holding sign 339, representing a 5-year-old girl who had been the victim of abuse, said a friend of hers who works with foster children encouraged her to stand in the park for the event.

Though she said she wished more people had turned out for the event, she still wanted children in need of assistance to see that there is help available to them.

"I hope people driving by see us and see that people are willing to stand out and make a statement for children," she said.

Claudia Bretz, who works for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said the solidarity of standing with hundreds of people in the park helps raise awareness about child abuse in the community as well as awareness among advocates because "it helps us all remember what we're here for."

"And it's just amazing, the expression you can see - the feeling and passion of those that do the work," she said of the children's advocates and volunteers in the park Saturday.

The Children's Advocacy Center works with law enforcement, the criminal justice system and other advocates to serve child victims of sexual or physical abuse, child witnesses of family victims and crimes, and non-offending family members. Aguirre said the center tries to provide victims with a comfortable environment for court-related interviews as well as counseling and other services.

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