Faces of pinwheels
“Each of these pinwheels has a face,” Beverly Engle said, looking at the more than 400 spinning pinwheels on the lawn at the entrance to the Emergency Services Building.
Holding her own granddaughter wrapped in a blanket, Engle shivered in the cold, but smiled when recalling the success stories of her ministry at Children’s Advocacy Center.
Haylee Bowman, a Pea Ridge High School senior, joined Engle, CAC workers, Pea Ridge police officers and Mayor Jackie Crabtree at the site.
“I have a heart for kids and change,” Bowman said, explaining that she has begun working to affect a change in young people struggling with suicidal thoughts. Saying she’s “not confrontational” and that approaching the school principal to ask to talk to her fellow classmates about suicide was a fearful thought for her. “It’s all been through Christ,” she said.
“There are people in my life who struggle with suicidal thoughts,” Bowman said.
Encouraging Bowman, Engle said she had just recently communicated with a young lady in Egypt who has made a tremendous difference in the past two years.
“Two years ago in Egypt, they stoned children who told about abuse,” Engle said, adding that it has been revolutionary how much things have changed because of one woman’s campaign to stop child abuse. “You can make a difference.”
“Some of these children,” Engle said while pointing to the pinwheels which represent abused children in Benton County, “without help will struggle with suicide.”
Educational awareness is mak- ing a difference, Engle said. There were 432 cases of substantiated child abuse in Benton County in 2012.
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg. We want to eliminate it,” Engle said.
“We are proud to work alongside the Children’s Advocacy Center to educate and share the goal of preventing child abuse,” Lt. Ryan Walker said. “The CAC
has a highly-trained staff that we always refer any child of a potential abuse case to, not only for a child-friendly interview, but to take advantage of their many other resources, including therapists and counselors.
“We appreciate Haylee for coming out and helping place all of the pinwheels. We hope that someday, we won’t be able to place pinwheels because there were no confirmed cases of child abuse in Benton County,” Walker said, adding that April is Child Abuse Awareness month. He said there were about six confirmed cases of child abuse in Pea Ridge last year. This year, there have been five complaints of child abuse, but most have been determined to be unfounded.