Gully's own son was two when a domestic violence incident left her wheelchair-bound.
"I thought to myself, 'what if that was my two-year-old son having to go and put an ornament on a tree?'" Gully said. "So regardless if it's cold, rainy, I make it my business to be here every year because it could have been someone putting a ornament on the tree for me."
It's her own experience that reminds her of the people who get left behind after a crime.
"Life goes on after funerals and things: a lot of the calls stop," Gully said. "But it's important to let people know that their family members matter."
Vickie Newman is one of those family members. Her son, Timothy, was murdered this year in April.
"The hole that has been left by his death is just something that will never be filled," she told MPB. "And the hole in my heart is just something that'll never be filled."
Attorney General Lynn Fitch said that a tree dedication not only gives families space to grieve but gives them an opportunity to find support among other people who can understand what they've been through.
"This is a hard time the Christmas season when you've lost a loved one," Fitch told MPB. "But to see everyone together and the prayers and the blessing and knowing that everyone is here to support them on this journey: makes a huge difference."
And, she hopes, this is a way for her office to focus not only on crime in the state, but those affected by it.
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