By Hamilton Richardson
Elmore/Autauga News
Photos by City of Prattville and Hamilton Richardson
Members of law enforcement, city leaders, and the staff of the Autauga County Family Support Center and Butterfly Bridge Children’s Advocacy Center kicked off Child Abuse Prevention Month Monday morning in downtown Prattville.
The event, called Pinwheels and Popcorn, brought attention to April as the month that so many focus on child abuse prevention. The group that came together at the Family Support Center all carried pinwheels to represent what the lives of children should be like.
“It symbolizes what type of childhood and life they should have, which is happy and healthy and fun,” said Merrill Carroll, Executive Director of the Family Support Center.
Prattville Mayor Bill Gillespie also read a proclamation about Child Abuse Prevention Month.
“I want to thank everybody here that’s done so much to get us to this point,” the mayor said. “Whether you’re the Family Support Center, law enforcement or just the mothers and fathers out there. But especially the Family Support Center. Helping Families Help Themselves and that is basically what it’s going to take.”
Gillespie then read the proclamation to the group and then everyone walked over to the flagpoles in front of City Hall planting the blue spinning pinwheels into the ground as a gesture of community support in the fight against child abuse.
