CAIRO — Candidates for sheriff in Grady County joined others Sunday evening to pray for the community amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A procession of between 20-30 vehicles met at Cairo High School where they formed into a line that first visited Grady General Hospital. Nurses and staff were waiting outside to wave at the procession.

The group then traveled in turn to Magnolia Place Senior Living, the Cairo Police Department, the Cairo Fire Department, the Grady County Sheriff’s Office, Grady County Emergency Medical Service and Pinewood Nursing Center in Whigham. A shorter procession continued further to the Pelham Parkway Nursing Home.

All the while, participants prayed inside their vehicles.

“It was not political in nature,” said Steve Clark, a former investigator with the sheriff’s office and one of the candidates present for the procession. “It was trying to show a unified front where we could all come together if we need be.”

Clark had been asked to take part in the event by a friend, Tracy Griffin, who took it upon herself to invite candidates running in a crowded field for sheriff later this year.

Though originally the idea of fellow residents Thurman Sadler and Donna Brock, Griffin said she took the concept of a community prayer chain and started getting others involved on social media to help the event grow. It was also Griffin’s idea to reach out to the candidates for sheriff as a way for them to show their dedication to Grady County.

Also present for the event were candidates Jared Evans and Duke Donaldson — two of Clark’s opponents in the May 19 Republican primary. Griffin said attempts were made to reach out to Democratic candidate Donald “Dickie” Thomas and incumbent Harry Young, but they could not be reached in time to take part in the event.

Though it involved multiple candidates vying for elected office, Griffin said the event was not political in nature.

“I’m all about prayer,” she said. “I know that my God can handle anything and everything thrown at him. I just figured getting the community involved would help spread the word that this is what Grady County is all about.”

Griffin said she considered the event a success, and that she received positive feedback on a livestream of the procession she posted on Facebook. The procession attracted enough attention that she says some fellow Christians in Thomasville now want to host a prayer chain of their own.

“Before long, the word will get out that Grady County is strong,” she said. “Our opinions and our prayers will reach out to other people and make them want to get out and get involved in it.”

Griffin also said Sunday’s prayer chain could be just the first of several events.

“If we can get another group together and get more people involved to do this and make it go bigger, I would love to get another one started,” she said.