Families together: Yakima reunification celebration honors longtime advocate

Sheets of purple and large purple butterflies brightened the austere concrete block walls of the Yakima County Juvenile Justice Center courtroom Thursday. Bouquets of purple flowers decorated long tables.

LaShaunda Harris, the community advocate and champion for families who wore purple almost every day and chose butterflies as her emblem of rebirth after overcoming adversity, would have loved it, friends said. Harris likely knew — and probably helped in some way, big or small — all of the parents and children honored at the 10th annual reunification celebration that afternoon.

More >> Families together: Yakima reunification celebration honors longtime advocate