Word spread quickly when two Effingham County High School rising seniors were killed after the car carrying them and four others flipped multiple times on Stillwell Clyo Road more than two weeks ago.

More than 1,000 people came to each of the candlelight vigils to honor Whitney Newman and Neil Morgan.

No one knew what to do.

At the vigil for Morgan, Shannon Gowin took a few moments to do something.

“There’s not a parent here who’s not thinking ‘It could’ve been my child,’ and there’s not a kid here who isn’t thinking ‘It could’ve been me,’” she said.

She proposed a network of responsible adults that teens could call when they’re in trouble and need a ride home, an effort dubbed “The Morgan-Newman Project.”

Twenty people signed up that night.

“Neil was like family,” Gowin said. “Whitney has been in my home.”

Teens are bombarded with messages about not drinking and driving and wearing seatbelts and peer pressure, but they still do it.

Emily Gowin, Shannon’s daughter, and a close friend to Neil and Whitney, said part of the problem is that there’s nothing for teens to do in Effingham.

“I don’t agree with the kids drinking, but as parents, we cannot be up under them 24 hours,” said Christina Childree, who is helping launch the Morgan-Newman Project and whose daughter was also friends with Newman.

For now, students will be given the contact list when they go back to school in hopes that they won’t need it — but if they do, they will use it.

“We just kept thinking if only they had called — anybody. If they were too afraid to call their parents, call another friend’s parents, until I said, ‘we’re gonna do it,’” said Gowin.

Drivers would be required to take the child home and leave them with an adult.

“Even if they are afraid of getting in trouble, it’s so much better to be grounded for the rest of your life than to not be here at all,” Gowin said

Eventually, Childree said, they hope the Morgan-Newman Project will use an 800-number that students can save in their cell phones. They want to install a code of confidentiality between the driver, child and their parent to create a safe space for the child.

“We’re going to do everything we can to make it to where a child feels they can pick up that phone and they can call,” Childree said.

But the details are still being developed. A Web site is in the works and Gowin has set up an e-mail address for people to sign up and get more information. They are calling on the community to come together with ideas for getting children home safe.

“My goal right now is to get it going,” Gowin said.

Childree agreed: “If we can get the community to come together, we can put all these ideas and these thoughts and work it together as a community.”