In association with Court Appointed Special Advocates, the annual “Pinwheels For Prevention” event was held Thursday in front of the Chautauqua Municipal Building in Mayville to raise awareness on child abuse in Chautauqua County.

CASA has volunteers that work with abused and neglected children that are appointed by family court.

The event was highly attended by local youth organizations, family court judges and county officials in the annual awareness and prevention event. Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello was in attendance again as he was last year. While one year removed from the previous event, Borrello’s message remained true.

“People think in a rural community like Chautauqua County that these things don’t happen or they don’t happen as much, but the reality is child abuse and neglect is a real issue here in our county,” Borrello said.

County Executive George Borrello participated in the event again as he did in 2018. Borrello said the goal is to continue to raise awareness and prevent future child abuse incidents. P-J photo by Jordan W. Patterson

Borrello praised the efforts of local agencies involved in child abuse incidents around the county including CASA, family court judges and law enforcement, among others.

Borrello read a proclamation to those gathered announcing that April 2019 at the official “Child Abuse Prevention” Month. April is also the “Month of the Young Child.”

Borrello called out to individual bystanders, possibly family members or friends, to reach out to a local organization that is “ready to assist.”

Below the CASA banner with the slogan “Prevention Child Abuse Together” participants began planting the symbolic pinwheels. Later, children from a Chautauqua Lake based daycare center were brought to the municipal building to participate as well.

For Borrello, who was watching the young individuals place a pinwheel in honor of people their age, the moment only called attention to the children who are not allotted the same amount of care and attention.

“These children are obviously be cared for properly. They’re getting a proper education,” Borrello said. “It’s the kids that we don’t see that you have to think about on a day like today.”

Family Court Judges Jeffery Piazza and Michael Sullivan also participated in the ceremony and reiterated the sentiment of spreading awareness on child abuse in the county. Both judges, who deal with child abuse cases regularly, appreciated all groups involved who participated in the ceremony.

Kathy Park, executive director of CASA, said the awareness event is continuing to grow since its first implementation in 2009.

“The turnout is amazing,” Park said of this year’s attendance. “It just shows that more people in the community are aware of the issue at hand and that we all need to sort of come together.”

For Park, watching children, the ages of many being abused throughout the county, plant pinwheels for their fellow peers “warmed” her heart.

Borrello and Park both felt the opioid epidemic and overall drug abuse often lead to child abuse.

Park encouraged people aware of an abusive situation to reach out, and also promoted general kindness and positivity in people’s daily lives.

Park said anyone who wants to report an act of child abuse should contact the child abuse hotline at 1-800-342-3720.

CASA continued its efforts from last year to make as many services to children in abusive homes available to them. Going forward, Park said the goal is to raise as much awareness and make as many services available to abused children to get as close to prevention as possible.

An additional prevention event will be held in Jamestown on April 13.