Dozens Join March to End Child Abuse
CAC executive director Gina Hoke places a blue pinwheel along the Glenn Highway in honor of child abuse prevention month. Photo by Anna Somers.
By Anna Somers
On Friday, April 4, dozens of children, teens, and adults participated in Glennallen’s Go Blue rally. This annual event is organized by the Copper River Basin Child Advocacy Center (CAC) and is held each on the first Friday of April in honor of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
At this year’s rally, local residents joined CAC staff as well as state troopers who were displaying blue pinwheels on the lawn in front of Copper Valley Telecom’s office on the Glenn Highway. According to CAC executive director Gina Hoke, the blue pinwheels represent hope and resilience.
After finishing the highway display, three dozen or more residents walked over a mile to the American Legion Hall. Participants were encouraged beforehand to wear blue, a national symbol of child abuse prevention.
The CAC is a nonprofit organization that operates in Glennallen, Valdez, Tok, and beyond.
The CAC’s mission is to support children and families facing abuse allegations. They work alongside state and local organizations including law enforcement, Office of Children’s Services, tribal workers, and medical providers.
State trooper Jordan Chroniger places blue pinwheels along the Glenn Highway in honor of child abuse prevention month. Photo by Anna Somers.
They are also involved in community outreach, organizing local activities and events like the Go Blue rally in April and annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in December. Grace Rogers is a Glennallen High School senior who works part-time as the CAC event coordinator.
Rogers helps out at events like the Go Blue rally, where she prepared and served hot dogs and refreshments for participants. Since she started working with the CAC last summer, she has held a booth at the firefighter picnic and Kenny Lake fair with brochures and other information so families can learn about keeping their children safe from abuse and reporting allegations to the proper authorities.
“I like seeing a bunch of kids being happy,” Rogers said when asked about her favorite part of her job. “It’s always nice working with families.”
According to statistics from the Alaska Children’s Alliance, a separate Anchorage-based nonprofit, Alaska has one of the highest rates of child abuse and neglect in the nation, with more than one-third of all Alaska-born children being reported to Child Welfare before they turn ten.
Scott Somers, the CAC board president and this author’s husband, referred to these statistics when he explained why he believes that the mission of the CAC is “perhaps one of the most important endeavors we can take to allow children to be children.”