Blue Ribbon Campaign prevents child abuse

Blue is a beautiful color: a shade of the sea, the sky, wild flowers. It is also the tint of a bruise.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and Northern Kentucky’s Family Nurturing Center wants every person in Greater Cincinnati to understand the symbolism of that color in child abuse. Its Blue Ribbon 5K Race April 28 is just one part of its Blue Ribbon Campaign, a community-wide effort to recognize society’s collective responsibility to prevent and confront all forms of child abuse and neglect.

“Child abuse is entirely preventable,” says Tracy Fuchs, the Family Nurturing Center’s director of development. “It’s not like cancer or a disease.” One of the Center’s primary goals is to educate adults to know the signs of abuse and understand their legal and moral responsibilities to prevent it from happening. “The Blue Ribbon programs are like an umbrella, giving opportunities for everyone throughout the community to learn.”

The Blue Ribbon Ceremony kicked off April Child Abuse Prevention Month activities at Tom Gill’s Chevrolet, featuring local officials, families, law enforcement, area organizations and a blessing from Bishop Foys of the Diocese of Covington. Featured speaker Gary Hudson is founder of the local office of Darkness to Light – Stewards of Children, a progressive prevention program designed to teach adults to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child abuse.

The Family Nurturing Center uses the Blue Ribbon campaign to increase awareness in adults, who have the only power to make changes in children’s lives. The Bank of Kentucky, long-term partners with the Center in its campaign, encourage visitors and clients to donate at its banks as well as read about child abuse. The Mellow Mushroom in Wilder, KY, is offering Pizza for Prevention as an April fundraiser, and trees in yards, at libraries and in town squares across Northern Kentucky are festooned with blue ribbons to increase public awareness of this preventable tragedy and encourage our collective actions to end it.

Do Good:

• Participate: in one of the many Blue Ribbon Campaign events through the rest of April, including the
Blue Ribbon 5K Race April 28.

• Learn: about what the Family Nurturing Center is doing to treat children and educate adults about the national epidemic of child abuse and how society can prevent it from happening.

By Becky Johnson