Exchange Club of Richmond Hill President Laura Evans said her club was looking for a way to raise awareness about child abuse when members hit upon the idea of planting a pinwheel garden alongside Highway 144.
 “We searched for a project we could embrace that might bring important information to the community,” she said. “The pinwheel garden is a good visual for the community to ponder. The blue pinwheels represent happy, loved children and the 12 black pinwheels represent each of the documented cases of child abuse in our county in 2014.”
The display also includes a hotline residents can call if they suspect a child is a victim of abuse. It’s part of the Exchange Club’s longtime national project — preventing child abuse.
It became the Exchange Club’s “national project” in 1979 at its 61st national convention, according to information provided by Evans.
It notes that through Exchange Parent Aide, child-abuse prevention experts work directly with at-risk families, and so far the club’s Child Abuse Prevention Centers have helped more than 691,120 families create safer homes for more than 1.73 million children.
Closer to home, Richmond Hill Exchange Club members hope to help make homes safer for children who’re in abusive situations.
“We hope one day to plant a pinwheel garden with only blue, or happy, symbols,” Evans said.
For more information about the organization’s child-abuse prevention efforts, go to the Exchange’s child-abuse prevention website.
For more information about the Exchange Club of Richmond Hill, go to rhxc.org or call 727-2001.