Pinwheels raise awareness of child abuse and neglect
Black Mountain Home for Children observes Child Abuse Prevention Month
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
April 14, 2021
The Black Mountain Home for Children is observing Child Abuse Prevention Month with its Pinwheels for Prevention campaign at the Mountain Home Thrift Store and Thirteen Pennies Café on Lake Eden Road. The nonprofit organization will host a Facebook Live event, Thursday, April 22, to offer resources for preventing abuse and neglect. Photo by Fred McCormick
A simple child’s toy is helping the Black Mountain Home for Children raise awareness of a serious issue impacting the community’s “most valuable treasure.”
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, which calls on people around the country to rededicate themselves to preventing abuse and neglect, and the Black Mountain non-profit organization is hosting Pinwheels for Prevention at its Mountain Home Thrift Store: Cheryl’s Place and Thirteen Pennies Café.
Blue pinwheels are available at both locations on Lake Eden Road for a suggested $10 donation. A national symbol for child abuse prevention, the pinwheels can be taken home or placed in the garden at BMH.
The home was founded as an orphanage in Haywood County in 1904 with the help of a donation of 13 pennies by Hazel Johnson, a child herself at the time. It expanded to its current location in Black Mountain in 1922 and now provides orphaned, abused, neglected or abandoned children a safe home environment and a variety of support services.
BMH will host a Facebook Live event at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 22, presented by Brevard Davidson River Presbyterian Church and sponsored by area businesses and organizations. The presentation will provide information about BMH, how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted children and provide resources to help prevent child abuse.
For more information about the Child Abuse Awareness event, including sponsorship opportunities, and Pinwheels for Prevention, visit blackmountainhome.org/event/childabuseawareness/