Bradford County 2nd graders raise awareness of children who suffered abuse

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During the month of March, over eight hundred second-graders participated in an art project across Bradford County. It is part of a wider community effort to bring awareness to the plight of children who suffer abuse at the hands of adults and others. April is Child Abuse Awareness month. Each April, blue pinwheels are placed in the lawn outside the county courthouse, blue being the color and symbol for the awareness month. The blue pinwheels rotate silently as a reminder and representation of the children who silently suffer from abuse and live in fear of telling anyone. 

This year a second reminder, the Hearts in Hands project, small handprints on blue paper with a tiny red heart held in each hand, will be added to the landscape. Eight hundred times two is sixteen hundred small hands with the message that children should not be silently suffering. Children need us. They need us to listen, to hear, and to act on their behalf. 

The statistics of child abuse are sobering. Bradford County ranks among the highest level in the state of reported per capita cases of child abuse.  Annually, the Children’s House in Towanda assists in over two hundred cases of reported incidents of abuse. These are children suffering abuse that includes both physical and sexual abuse.
Hearts in Hands is a project of the Bradford County Regional Arts Council in partnership with the Children’s House/Children’s Advocacy Center, and the Library System of Bradford County. It is part of the BCRAC’s Community Conversations series, and aa third community art project in which seniors across the county have been participating during the winter months.

In addition to the Hearts in Hands art, over 200 sock monkeys have been made and will be presented to the Children’s House to give to traumatized children who come to them for help.

Change doesn’t happen without people being called to help. On April 13th, at 6:30 p.m. at the Keystone Theatre in Towanda, a Community Conversation will begin with the screening of REWIND, an award-wining documentary and true story of the filmmaker, Sasha Joseph Neulinger’s own journey through abuse, as well as his triumph as an adult and nationally known advocate for children. The film will begin at 6:30 and will followed by a Q&A led by an expert panel in the area of childhood abuse and recovery.  Counselors will be on hand.  The event is free.

It is up to us to collectively affect change, the change that builds safer, more caring, and more empathic communities of strength and vibrancy. The BCRAC, the Children’s House and the Library System of Bradford County invite you to join them at the Keystone Theatre on April 13, 2022.