Blue children are silent witnesses

Notice those odd statues of children in blue silhouette around town? Everyone should because they are designed to draw attention to a serious issue.

"They are the silent witnesses of child abuse," Andrea Quigley, a supervisor of Lutheran Social Services said.

April is Child Abuse Awareness Month and the statues will remain up through the month at various institutions. The blue children are part of an anti-abuse campaign of Lutheran Social Service, Department of Child and Family Services and Egyptian Health Department that will culminate in the noon April 14 Court Appointed Special Advocates' Annual Hands Around the Courthouse event. The youth are getting involved in both projects.

When you need 40 wooden, painted statues of children to place throughout a four-county area, call a generous lumber yard, a generous paint store and a local high school shop class.

"Harrisburg High School made these for us. The shop class cut them all out and the shop department painted them," Quigley said.

Barnes Lumber donated the wood and Durham's Hardware donated the paint. The teenagers did the rest.

"They worked really hard to get it done in a week," Quigley said.

The 40 statues went up last week in Saline, Williamson, Johnson, Massac and Union counties.

The CASA Hands Around the Courthouse has been a bit short-handed in recent years, with just not quite enough participants to fully encircle the courthouse. That may change this year.

"East Side students are going to join us to bring awareness of child abuse," Quigley said.

Harrisburg Middle School pupils are pitching in, too. Some of the students came up with a T-shirt design for people to wear during Hands Around the Courthouse. Harrisburg High School students are also participating in an essay contest on child abuse.