If you visit Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in April, you'll see a host of blue and silver pinwheels, beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
(I was an English major, and oft, in vacant or pensive mood, Wordsworth's poem flashes upon my inner eye. I can't help it.)
Three thousand pinwheels, to be exact. And the day I visited, the first sunny day in over a week, they did seem to be dancing, throwing off light from 1200 silvery petals. They were perfect beacons of hope.
For many years, April has been "Child Abuse Prevention Month," symbolized by blue ribbons. This year, Prevent Child Abuse Virginia (PCAV) has introduced the blue pinwheel as an addition symbol. The 3000 pinwheels palnted in the Children's Garden represent the children who have been served by the Healthy Families Virginia program last year in the Central Virginia and Tidewater regions.
(Healthy Families is a national program model whose ultimate goal is to enhance child growth and development by teaching positive parenting and preventing abuse and neglect. PCAV runs the program in Virginia.)
PCAV invites everyone to plant a pinwheel--or a pinwheel garden--in April to show support for healthy families and a world free of child abuse and neglect. You can make your own pinwheel or purchase one for $1, with proceeds benefitting PCAV. Call (804) 359-6166 ext. 309 to order.
