Pinwheels spinning in the wind outside Monroe Elementary School this month will stand as a reminder — children are entitled to a happy childhood.
The blue and silver pinwheels were put up at the school and outside the Head Start building in Rock Springs by members of the Woman’s Club of Rock Springs in recognition of April being Child Abuse Prevention month.
Pinwheels for Prevention is a national campaign that uses pinwheels as a symbol of the carefree and happy life children are entitled to, Club Member Marcia Volner explained.
The Woman’s Club began putting up pinwheels outside Head Start several years ago when Betty Lou Auld, one of the members who was chairman for the abuse prevention section at the time, started the project. The pinwheels have become an annual tradition, with the Junior Special Projects group putting them out each year now.
In the past pinwheels were put up only in Rock Springs, but this year since the club has so many members from Green River they decided to do the project in both towns. Five club members — Annette Burkey, Debra McGarvey, Jacki Allison, Kimberly Kellum and Volner — put about two dozen pinwheels up at each location last Saturday.
“We’ve had a lot more members starting to participate in it each year,” Volner said. “Help put the pinwheels out in the nicely frozen ground,” she added with a laugh, saying the members were prepared this year with screwdrivers and hammers.
Another addition to the pinwheel project this year was a new sign which reads “Keep our children safe, prevent child abuse.”
For Volner, the pinwheel project is a natural extension of the club’s year-round work to help children in the community. Other projects the club has done include reading and donating books to children at Head Start and putting “buddy benches” in local schools.
“Children are a very important part of our community and so we like to help them,” Volner said.
In addition to being Child Abuse Prevention Month, April is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which was recognized by the Board of County Commissioners and the Green River City Council during this week’s meetings through proclamations.
Taneesa Congdon, the director of the Center for Families and Children with YWCA of Sweetwater County, spoke to the commissioners about the importance of sexual assault awareness.
“Every 68 seconds an American is sexually assaulted, and every nine minutes that victim is a child,” Congdon explained.
In the past year, the YWCA assisted 70 survivors of sexual assault, more than half of which were children, according to Congdon.
She also said one way to help sexual assault survivors is believing those who say they’ve experienced it since false reporting is typically low. Congdon encouraged the commissioners and community to join the YWCA in awareness events including Denim Day April 27 and the annual Run with the Badges event April 30.
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