GREENSBORO—Several Greensboro agencies planted 300 pinwheels to raise awareness of the impact child abuse has on the community and mark the beginning of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
The pinwheels were planted at the Greensboro Police Department's Eastern Substation, each representing an agency involved in helping children across the county.
Dr. Simon Whittaker, a child abuse survivor, described emotions raning from violence, alcoholism, chaos and fear which he expereinced when he was abused as a kid.
"We have over eight treatment agencies and thirty providers that we work with on a regular basis and we wanted each agency to have the opportunity to plant a handful of pinwheels to show the synergy and collaboration of our community response team,” said Kelly Graves, with the Greensboro Child Response Initiative.
Officials say child abuse is considered a silent crime that's why multiple agencies here in Greensboro are committed to working together to raise awareness. They advise you to help out by starting a conversation.
"It's really all about communication. As we've said we want to reach out to the community and want them to know what resources are out here and part of the way we can do that is through the organization with Child Response Initiative or CRI," said Lt. Chad Williams, of the Greensboro Police Department.
CRI says there were more than 5,500 reported child abuse cases in 2014 in Guilford County. Survivors say, that's a number that needs to go down.
Nationally, one in four children have experienced child abuse. The pinwheels will stay up through the month of April.