Anchor House’s birthday on April 1 also is the kickoff of National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Homelessness and child abuse are often linked. Most of the youth we serve have experienced some form of abuse, leading them to find refuge at Anchor House.
Anchor House commemorated National Child Abuse Prevention Month as part of our birthday celebration on April 1, which included staff, youth and two special guests, Kayra M. Melvin, the Assistant Director, Department of Human Services, Division of Youth Services, and Fior Vinajero, also from the Division of Youth Services, planting pinwheels outside our agency.
In 2008, Prevent Child Abuse America started the national tradition of planting pinwheels and using the pinwheel as a national symbol for child abuse prevention through its Pinwheels for Prevention program. The pinwheel is a symbol of the playful joy of childhood that all children have a right to experience. It is also a reminder that all children deserve to live feeling safe, protected, and knowing they have a promising future ahead.
On April 11, we joined our friends at Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey (PCA-NJ) in support of their Big Pinwheel Garden event at Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton. Following welcome remarks by the church’s Pastor and PCA-NJ Board member Rev. Dr. Darrell L. Armstrong and PCA-NJ CEO/Executive Director Gina Hernandez, there were several speakers including Anchor House Executive Director Kim McNear. “Pinwheels are a sign of innocence, of childhood,” Kim said. “When youth come to us at Anchor House, we often don’t get to see that innocence,” as she explained, as often they have faced abuse, neglect and trauma in their young lives. She explained how Anchor House and other agencies that were represented in the audience were helping them to feel safe and secure and deal with the trauma they faced.
