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WARREN -- Members of the Touch of Class 4-H Club, who spend most of their time around horses, participated in a very different activity Saturday morning to help bring awareness to child abuse and neglect.
The members placed 1,166 pinwheels on the lawn of Warren City Hall ahead of Wednesday's Pinwheels for Prevention ceremony hosted by Trumbull County Children Services. Each pinwheel represents one report of child maltreatment in Trumbull County for 2023.
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. TCSS has been hosting the pinwheels campaign for the past 18 years.
Club adviser Elaine Brown said despite the rain and gloomy weather, 19 of the club's 20 members helped create the pinwheel garden. She said all of the pinwheels were placed on the lawn in 30 minutes.
She said Touch of Class members, who range in age from 7 to 16, have been taking part in the pinwheels event for at least the past 10 years. The mother of one of the members got them involved and Brown said they have volunteered to build the pinwheel garden ever since.
"It is a great community service project for the kids," Brown said. "It brings them all together. Some of the members were too young in past years to realize what the pinwheels symbolize, but this year, many of them knew the meaning behind what they were doing."
In addition to representing a victim of child abuse or neglect, the pinwheels symbolize the adults who became advocates for children by reporting suspected abuse or neglect. The Trumbull County Courthouse and Warren City Hall will be illuminated with blue lights throughout April in recognition of child abuse prevention, according to Marilyn Pape, executive director of TCCS.
Pinwheels for Prevention is based on the belief that while the public understands that child abuse is a serious problem, there is less understanding of what it means to prevent child abuse and neglect and the role everyone plays in speaking up for prevention.
Pape said this year's theme is "if you see something, say something."