The 5/14 Memorial Service for Reflection, Hope and Healing was the culmination of a weekend spent honoring and remembering the lives of the 10 neighbors and friends we lost on this day just last year.
The service held at Elim Christian Fellowship was filled with community members who still needed to cry but it was also filled with people who took the chance to celebrate the fact that, by God's grace, they say they're still here.
"The resilience that has come from this being a strenuous but also triumphant day that God is fully in control," member of Elim Christian Fellowship Markeisha Jackson said.
State officials and community leaders said they'd continue doing their part to bring change.
"So East Buffalo, although I come from Brooklyn you've adopted me and I will be there for you each and every day to ensure you that all of the resources that they've promised come to East Buffalo and that we build it up and that no more tragedy will befall this community again," New York State Attorney General Letitia James said.
The Reverend Dr. Jamal Bryant of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church came all the way from Atlanta, Georgia to share a message that was both helpful and hopeful.
"I want it recorded that we did not become weary in well doing because we understood that in due season, we would reap because we did not faint," Bryant said. "I want it recorded that we did not harbor animosity or the spirit of revenge but we trusted a legal system that has never been judicious to us."
With remembrance events and programs happening all over the city, brother and sister Anita and Anthony Collins said ending the weekend at this service gave them peace.
"Life hurts and sometimes it gets really tough and its really important to have something to hold onto and I feel like church is a really good thing to hold on to," Anthony Collins said.
"The bible tells us to cast our cares on him for he cares for us. So when we just lean toward God and all of our worries and he heals us and gives us break through and deliverance," Anita Collins.
And while the service marks the end of the remembrance weekend, it also marks the beginning for a community with a goal to stand taller and stronger together.
"We're Buffalo Strong," said Anita Collins.
