March for Children set in Siloam Springs

A March for Children to raise awareness about child trafficking is planned for 12 p.m. on Aug. 22 in downtown Siloam Springs.

The local March for the Children was started by Brandy Paczowski and Megan Thompson a few weeks ago to end child sex trafficking, according to Paczowski. The group is part of a larger movement unbrellaed under the hashtag #saveourchildren, Paczowski said.

“It has been an issue for a long time,” Paczowski said. “Our march is to bring awareness to what is true.”

The march will begin at the American Legion Post 29 Hall/Siloam Springs Community Building, Paczowski said. Participants will then make their way up to the library and then circle back through downtown, Paczowski said.

The group received a permit from the city of Siloam Springs for Aug. 13, according to an email from Communications Manager Holland Hayden. The email contained an approved permit for Aug. 13.

When asked how the date change would affect the permit, Hayden said as long as all signing parties are aware of the change it would be fine. Hayden also said the date has been moved with no problems.

Community Development Director Don Clark said a permit from the Arkansas Department of Health is not required for gatherings of less than 100

people. The city permit shows the participants to be 50-plus people.

Social distancing guidelines will be in place, Paczowski said. Marchers are required to wear masks and asked to maintain a sixfoot distance from other participants if possible, Paczowski said.

The permit states the streets will not be closed for the march.

The Save Our Children movement is a social media cause that has been gaining popularity on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. A march was held on Aug. 14 and 15 in Bentonville and a rally was held on Aug. 16 in Rogers. A protest is planned for Sept. 5 in Fayetteville.

There is no admission fee for the walk, Paczowski said. As of Tuesday morning, 279 people were interested in attending and 96 people committed to going, Paczowski said.

The organizers don’t believe they will have more than 100 people show up at the gathering,

Paczowski said.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) stated on their website, missingkids.org, the FBI reported 421,394 children were entered into the National Crime and Information Center (NCIC) for missing children.

NCMEC also released statistics for the number of missing children in 2019. The organization assisted law enforcement and families with more than 29,000 cases of missing children, the website states.

NCMEC broke down the numbers by case type:

• Ninty-one percent were

endangered runaways.

• Four percent were family abductions.

• Four percent were critically missing young adults ages 18 to 20.

• Less than one percent

were non-family abductions.

• One percent of those

cases were lost, injured or otherwise missing children.

Of the nearly 26,300 runaways reported to NCMEC in 2019, one in six were likely victims of child sex trafficking, the website states.