April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month

April 1 is the start of Child Abuse Prevention Month. The Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany started the campaign by setting up pinwheel gardens and displays, with the first at the Parsippany Town Hall. Followed by several other displays around town to help raise awareness in our community by turning your attention to the importance of ensuring great childhoods for all children because our children are our future. In addition, Parsippany-Troy Hills Mayor James Barberio will be issuing a Proclamation at the Council Meeting on Tuesday, April 4, designating April as “Child Abuse Prevention Month.”

While Child Abuse Prevention Month is underway, Kiwanis highlight the importance of ensuring great childhoods for all children because our children are our future. The theme of the 2023 campaign is “Growing a Better Tomorrow for All Children, Together.” The community garden metaphor reinforces the message that “Every day, we help families and children thrive.”

Throughout April, you will see pinwheels on display around the

Parsippany and Lake Hiawatha areas as the symbol of this very thought … that all children deserve a great childhood because they are our future. And while the pinwheel can do many things — bring smiles, lift spirits, call for healthy starts for all children — the one thing it cannot do is move on its own. Be the force that makes it move, bringing about real change for children in the United States. Protecting our children is everyone’s job…it’s your turn to make a difference!

Since 1983, April has been a time to acknowledge the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse. As we look upon the faces of the many children in our communities and think about all of the children worldwide that suffer at the hands of others, let’s remember that April may be child abuse prevention month, but unfortunately, abuse happens every day. That is why every year, during April, communities across the country come together to focus on this startling issue and on the need for widespread prevention and public awareness campaigns to reduce the number of children who are abuse victims. Sadly, there were 3.6 million cases of child abuse reported in the US. Approximately five children a day

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April has arrived and with it the promise of warmer weather and longer days. As Robin Williams once claimed, “Spring is nature’s way of saying “Let’s Party!” Nature wakes up from its long winter’s nap, as do the rest of us, and we begin to venture back outside to enjoy the fresh air and outdoor activities.

The sense of new beginnings brings a feeling of optimism that seems to come with every spring season. No matter how many times around the sun you may have gone, spring brings an air of positivity and enthusiasm with it. New places to go, new people to meet and new experiences to have are calling to us as we anticipate the upcoming warmer months.

New things have come to Parsippany this spring as well. I would like to call attention to the improved Township website. Our site has a fresh new look that invites viewers to explore what is going on in town. The website is much easier to navigate and