MANATEE – Amalia Flores organizes all community events for Manatee Children’s Services, and with every April event canceled, she says its been a tough month.
“We had a lot of activities planned, but because of the pandemic situation, we stopped everything,” Flores said, making it harder to spread awareness during Child Abuse Prevention Month.
“For the past three years we had this wonderful Planting Pinwheels campaign. The blue pinwheel is our symbol; it’s a symbol of happy childhoods,” Flores said.
The nonprofit child advocacy center was founded in 1977, dedicated to breaking the cycle of child abuse.
“..by a group of people who saw a need in the community to help children, abandoned children. So they started with a shelter,” Flores said.
They still have their emergency shelter, but now they’ve grown to have more than 10 programs that help with prevention, intervention, and treatment.
“We work with the police. Let’s say a teacher makes a call to report child abuse; the police immediately start an investigation and call us,” Flores said.
Now kids in danger at home don’t have the safe escape of a classroom.
“So the cases of child abuse are growing so fast,, and it’s terrible,” Flores said.
Attorney Carl Reynolds of Carl Reynolds Law wanted to lend A Helping Hand.
“…in support of your crusade to stop child abuse amongst our youth here in our community,” Reynolds said. “It’s one of those tragedies that should just never happen. “
Flores says the donation will go directly into their emergency shelter.
“With $25 we can feed one kid for a week at the shelter,” Flores said.
Right now the shelter is housing 30 kids, a small number compared to the 15,000 cases of child abuse in Manatee County each year. children abused each year.
“It is sad to talk about this subject, but at the same time, we’re changing the lives of all these children,” Flores said.
If you think you know a child who is experiencing abuse, you can report it here.
