April is national Child Abuse Prevention Month and Project NOW’s Head Start children and staff are making sure everyone knows it.  They will be planting 200 pinwheels at the four local Head Start campuses on Thursday, March 31^st beginning at 10 am.

The media is invited to the planting event at the Floreciente campus (350 3^rd St., Moline, IL 61265) at 10:00 am to see the children and talk to Project NOW’s Executive Director, Dwight Ford, about the importance of recognizing signs of abuse.

Pinwheel gardens will also be planted at the following locations and times –

11:00 am Springbrook Courts, 4251 11^th Ave., Moline, IL 61265

12:00 pm Florence Aldridge Center, 499 27^th St., East Moline, IL 61244

1:00 pm Colona, 700 1^st St.. Colona, IL 61241

The planting of the pinwheel gardens signifies a visual reminder of the hopeful, happy, and carefree childhood that we strive for all children in our community to experience. A similar planting day at Head Start’s Kewanee campus is scheduled for April 4^th.

According to EveryChild (formerly the Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities) this month is a time for the community to come together to celebrate the small actions people can take which will make a big impact on the well-being of children. Last year there were 5,250 reports of child abuse and neglect in the Quad Cities region.  That is a 17% increase from 2020. National and local statistics show that 96% of abuse happens at the hands of someone the child knows, loves and trusts.  To learn more about this month’s activities visit the calendar at www.foreverychild.org/capm

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Sean Leary Director of Digital Media

Sean Leary is an author, director, artist, musician, producer and entrepreneur who has been writing professionally since debuting at age 11 in the pages of the Comics Buyers Guide. An honors graduate of the University of Southern California masters program, he has written over 50 books including the best-sellers The Arimathean, Every Number is Lucky to Someone and We Are All Characters.