PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In observance of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, more than 300 pre-K through eighth grade students took part in “planting” blue and silver pinwheels on the front lawn of Saint Pio’s Regional Catholic School in South Philadelphia.
Students from Saints Neumann Goretti High School joined them in the Archdiocese’s annual Blue Pinwheel Awareness Garden. The national Pinwheels for Prevention initiative is a symbolic program that raises awareness about child abuse prevention.
“Our students and kids in our care are given the tools that they need to be able to understand that they should be protected by us as adults,” said Leslie Davila, director of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office for Child and Youth Protection (OCYP). “They have the right to be safe and they have the right to say no and to speak up for themselves and ask for help.”
The yearly event makes students aware of state resources, like an abuse help line, where calls can be made anonymously.
“We do safe environment lessons twice a year. Things that we need to know when going out into the real world. Things that will really help us,” said eighth-grader Steven Vanore. “Like being able to talk to parents. Talk to anybody if you need anything. Just knowing there are people out there and there are kind people in the world.”
In 2002, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a charter for the protection of children and young people in the wake of the Boston-based clergy sexual abuse scandal.
OCYP was established in Philadelphia to create and maintain a safe environment for children.