The Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center in Troy invites all Pike Countians to “plant” Pinwheel Gardens this April in celebration of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

“Throughout April we are encouraging all Pike Countians to celebrate the lives they touch and those who have touched their lives by honoring them with a pinwheel,” said Camille Downing, Pike Regional CAC executive director.  “The pinwheel is the national symbol for the great childhood all children deserve because children are our future.”

Downing said Prevent Child Abuse America introduced the pinwheel as the new national symbol for child abuse prevention in 2008. Pinwheels for Prevention is making great strides in creating awareness of child abuse and how it can be prevented.

“What research has shown and what experiences since have borne out is that people respond to the pinwheel,” Downing said. “By its nature, the pinwheel is whimsical and childlike. It has come to serve as a symbol, or reminder, of the great childhood we want for all children.”

The Pike Regional CAC is encouraging all Pike Countians to display these symbolic pinwheels at their homes, businesses or churches in support of America’s children.

One pinwheel on a mailbox or 100 pinwheels in a garden serve as reminders that every child deserves a happy childhood.

The pinwheels are only one dollar and may be purchased at the Pike Regional CAC, 118 West Orange Street in Troy.

Troy Regional Medical Center and the Pike County Courthouse will be the first to display the pinwheels.

“The Pike CAC encourages everyone to participate in Pinwheels for Prevention because we all have an effect on the lives of children, no matter what we do. It is our responsibility to contribute to the kind of nation we want to live it. When children don’t have an equal opportunity for healthy growth and development, we put our future as a society at risk.”

Downing said each person should recognize his or her role in the lives of children.

“We all have an obligation to support the healthy development our nation’s children,” she said. “We want all of our children to grow up in a loving and supporting environment.”

Research has shown that children who are raised in supportive and stable environments are more academically and financially successful.

“Great childhoods help children grow into productive, contributing adults,” Downing said. “They help their community and our country be prosperous and competitive.”