Students from Whittier Elementary school walked from their school to the Great Falls Public Library on Monday morning to plant more than 100 blue pinwheels.
“April is ‘Child Abuse Prevention Month’ and the color of that is a deep blue. The pinwheels are a national symbol that every child deserves a happy and healthy childhood,” said Jamie Marshall, chair for NoMore Violence Week 2024.
This is the 10th year of NoMore Violence Week, established by Great Falls College MSU after an increase of violence against children and families. The week consists of events and activities that help to bring awareness to these issues in the community.
“It has grown over the last decade to be an incredible community event. More than 20 organizations come together to do a weeklong commitment to looking at how we can prevent violence of many forms,” Marshall said. “There [have been] so many partners over the years [that] have just been absolutely amazing. In the last number of years, we partnered with Great Falls Library, which is why we're here at the public library.”
NoMore Violence Week addresses challenging topics such as child abuse, domestic and family violence, human trafficking and other issues facing our community and world.
“This is the career path that I chose, to look at prevention of violence, particularly for children and families, and then just on a very personal level, it's something I’m very passionate about. I believe in the good of community comes from really coming together, coalescing around, making things better and no more violence, which has been a tremendous opportunity to partner with folks and making that happen for our community,” said Marshall.
“It's important to protect kids like me because if we don't protect kids [my] age, then like [we're] not going to grow up like responsible adults,” said Luna, a sixth-grade student.
The students from Whittier Elementary school have been learning about the importance of advocating for no more violence in their community and what the blue pinwheels represent.
Plenty of events are still to come to support NoMore Violence Week here in Great Falls.
“Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evening we have events going on around town, totally free. Friday night at the square is a family friendly, great event to come see the threads of connection quilt project we've been doing for the last two years,” Marshall said.
For a schedule of the NoMore Violence Week events coming up this week, click here.
