By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
Organizers for Butterfly Bridge, Autauga County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), and the Family Support Center came together on Thursday afternoon to kick-off child abuse awareness month.
Blue balloons were released in front of the family support center as a symbol for the children in Autauga County who have experienced some form of child abuse.
“Child abuse happens in this very community every day, and it’s issue that shouldn’t be put on the backburner and forgotten about,” said Emily Hutcheson, Assistant Director at Butterfly Bridge. “We’ve been doing this event since 2017 because it’s important that we bring to light a subject as serious as this is”.
At the event, Prattville Mayor, Bill Gillespie, gave a proclamation declaring that April would be deemed as child abuse awareness month.
“Doing proclamations and events like this really take a community effort. We have great admiration for everything that these three organizations do, and we’re very fortunate to live in a place like Prattville that has such a close-knit community,” Gillespie said.
Butterfly Bridge will continue to raise awareness for child abuse as the month rolls along. On April 2nd, they will be teaming up with the Elmore County Department of Human Resources to present a proclamation of their own. Also, on April 6th, the organization will hold an event at Coaches Corner in Wetumpka.
“We have a great working relationship with the City of Prattville, and we’re so thankful that they came out in support of all of our organizations today. We’re eager to see what the rest of the month brings as we continue to shine a light on such an important subject,” said Merrill Carroll, Executive Director at the Autauga County Family Support Center.
