April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and CASA of the Heartland will once again be participating in the national Pinwheels for Prevention campaign “as a reminder of the uplifting and great childhood that all children deserve.” The blue and white pinwheels represent hope, health, and happiness for children served by the CASA organization.
CASA of the Heartland will kick off the campaign with their annual Pinwheel Planting Community Event, held in partnership with the Elizabethtown Police Department. The event will be held Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the EPD’s headquarters, located at 300 South Mulberry Street. All are welcome to attend, and lunch sponsored by the EPD from Papa Haoles Hawaiian Foods will be featured.
Speaking with the Elizabethtown City Council last month, CASA of the Heartland Executive Director Michelle Kail said expanding to cover a six-county service area has its challenges, but the organization is up to the task and is still growing in Hardin County.
“We’ve gone from serving about 120 children in our community in 2022 to 185 this last year, so we’ve seen an increase in need and an increase in services, and we’re happy to be able to step up and provide that service and meet that need,” Kail said.
Kail said 129 children are currently on the waitlist.
“We’ve seen those numbers steadily increase over the last several years,” Kail said. “When I started, we had about 98 kiddos on the waitlist. We got it down to 50, and we’ve seen a heavy increase in educational neglect cases in the last year and a half, so those numbers have gone back up.”
Learn more about CASA of the Heartland on their website and on their Facebook page.
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