SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – April is child abuse awareness month, and a local Syracuse center is raising awareness and money for child abuse prevention. The McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center is in the midst of its annual “Go Blue 4 Kids” month where the center hosts events and fundraisers to raise money and awareness. In a time where reported child abuse cases have increased, these events are being held virtually. However, that has not slowed down the fundraising and has even expanded the center’s reach.
The Center’s “Go Blue 4 Kids” month typically consists of an in-person breakfast, a black-tie gala and a 5k race. This year, all of the events will take place on Zoom, but the fundraising remains strong. Kacy Gardiner, the event planner for the center, said they are looking at raising well over $100,000 this month. All of the money raised goes straight to helping children.
“We see around 1,400 children a year and they do not pay for a single thing when they receive services from us,” said Dana Walk, executive assistant at the center.
This month marks the sixth annual “Go Blue 4 Kids” month the center has run. The money raised over the years has certainly helped the center raise awareness in the community and assist more children.
“When we first opened our doors we were seeing around three, four hundred children a year,” Walk said. “So we’ve been around for 20 years now and we see about 1,500 kids a year.”
The awareness and money “Go Blue 4 Kids” month brings for child abuse prevention comes at a crucial time. Walk said during the pandemic, when everyone was home, kids did not have an escape or a person to go to for help, which resulted in reported cases going down. In actuality, cases were not actually down.
“Since children have been back in schools since November, December time we have seen an increase in our caseload, especially in physical abuse cases,” Walk said.
Walk said that child abuse happens everywhere nationwide, even if it goes unrecognized.
“We cover all of Onondaga county and I feel like a lot of people have this stigma that it’s just in the city,” Gardiner said. “We have cases of people who live in Skaneateles, Dewitt, Fayeteville, all different backgrounds, and demographics. It doesn’t matter.”
The McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center will continue their “Go Blue 4 Kids” month with events and fundraising for the remainder of April. The center is hosting their “Pinwheel Ball” over Zoom on April 24, and will continue to sell blue pinwheels. The blue pinwheel is the national symbol of child abuse and neglect prevention. The center’s goal is to raise $15,000 in pinwheel sales.
