MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Just a few miles away from Friday's Whitehaven double shooting, the two teenage owners of a cookie shop held a rally to raise awareness and give hope to a city plagued by crime.
Near the intersection of Shelby Drive and Millbranch in Whitehaven brothers Jaicob and Jaiden Childress stepped up for their community as the owners of "Butta Butter Cookies," holding a stop the violence and crime rally.
Jaicob Childress, co-owner of the shop said, "The community — it needs to be one it needs to come together. You know this shows that we can come together we can have a good time you know and not be no violence."
With nearly 100 Memphians in attendance, motivational speakers from across the city held the mic and took to the stage to preach for a better Memphis.
The brothers — who opened their cookie shop more than two years ago — said this rally is not just for the Whitehaven community, but for the entire city of Memphis.
The event's goal — simple. Jaiden Childress said "It’s still some good in the city, and we are showing people that we can come together you know as a community as one."
In addition to the motivational speakers, there were pop-up playgrounds for the kids, and pop-up shops for the adults. Still, at the end of this day there was one central message at the heart of the rally.
K Durell Cowan Heal 901 Executive Director, said "Those that are out here rampantly causing violence and wreaking havoc in our city — it is time for us to go ahead and enforce those suppression efforts and get these dangerous individuals off of our streets."
Cowan also showed up to show support to the rally, the community and the teen CEO’s.
"When our young people are saying they they’re tired, It’s time for the older people to step up and support them for their efforts," Cowan said.
In the end, the message is simple they say. Stop the crime. Stop the violence. Come together, not just as a city, but as one community.
"Anything positive we are going to support it, and anything positive we all for it," Jaicob Childress says.