April is Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month in North Providence

 Nicole Brazier
@NicoleBrazierTV
nbrazier@abc6.com

NORTH PROVIDENCE – A movement in North Providence aims at keeping kids happy throughout their entire childhoods.

April is now officially Child Abuse Prevention Month in the town… an idea sparked by the senior project of North Providence high schooler Michelle Chen.

Chen was first inspired to fight for the cause after witnessing child abuse at a young age.

“When I first saw that I was just like, why? Why? Why is this happening?” she said.

According to Prevent Child Abuse Rhode Island, in 2013 nearly 14,000 calls about child maltreatment were made to the DCYF hotline.

“To say that these children need support is an understatement. And the more that we learn about abuse and neglect, the more we realize how lucky we are,” said North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi.

To support the effort, North Providence town hall now sports two pinwheels by the front steps – symbols of childhood happiness.

And members of the Sigma Delta Tau sorority at URI donated teddy bears to the North Providence Police and Fire Departments to help comfort children they find in frightening situations.

Emergency responders are also ramping up their efforts in support of the cause.

“We will take extra steps this year to raise awareness to these types of incidents through our website and advertising through social media as the season approaches,” said Fire Chief Leonard Albanese.

To find out how you can support the cause visit http://www.preventchildabuse-ri.org/.
(c) WLNE-TV 2015