Erni Armstrong looks out across empty school playgrounds and wonders, “What if?”
“If someone just would have spoken up, there would still be kids playing in the playground that aren’t with us today,” said Armstrong, a member of the Prevent Child Abuse Utah executive committee and a long-time Park City resident who also runs Freestyle Marketing.
“Every member of the community should be involved to do whatever it takes to make our children safe.”
To limit child abuse, mass education is needed, according to Anne Freimuth, the executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Utah.
“The only way to stop it is to prevent it up front,” Freimuth said.
One of the primary missions of the organization is to teach children, teachers and others about abuse awareness, personal safety and actions they can take.
And the only way to provide proper instruction is get money to support the programs.
On May 5, Prevent Child Abuse Utah is holding its 20th annual fundraising dinner to help raise funds to expand its education.
“The fundraiser is our largest event,” Freimuth said. “Constantly I need unrestricted funds to get more classes.”
Tickets to the event are $100 and will include a silent and live auction, a jazz band, dinner, dancing, and surprise visit from a local celebrity guest. Some of the items to be auctioned include an $8,000 Monique Luhilier wedding gown, the same worn by Kevin Costner’s bride; an original painting by Deborah Hake Brinkerhoff, diamond stud earrings, a dinner prepared by Chef Adalberto at the winner’s home, bronze artwork, and a Jazz basketball signed by Karl Malone and John Stockton.
“If we just maybe don’t go to dinner or to lunch one week, that’s $100 we can put to these kids,” Armstrong added.
Currently, Armstrong said, the organization is only able to reach 7 percent of the kids and parents it is trying to reach through education.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” Armstrong said. “We try to go all over the state. We are trying to reach every pocket in the state and provide that training.”
The fundraiser will be somewhat of a finale to the month of April, which was designated as Child Abuse Awareness Month across the country. Earlier this month, Governor Jon Huntsman signed a declaration for April to be recognized as Child Abuse Awareness Month in Utah.
“What we are doing with the fundraiser dinner, which is the biggest event fundraiser that we have, is to try to raise money so we can go into more schools to provide training for children and school administrators so they can recognize and know what to do,” Armstrong said.
The theme for the dinner is “All Kids Need Heroes, Some Just Need Them More.”
“You can be hero, anyone can be a hero, even an ordinary Joe,” Armstrong said. You can help with fundraising and educate yourself to understand what child abuse is.”
Armstrong said Utah has one of the highest number of abuse cases reported in the U.S.
“In a way it’s good that it’s being reported,” Armstrong said.
“In every case that is reported,” Freimuth added, “probably 10 are not reported.” Most of the reports, she said, happen after there is injury. “It’s sad when it’s reported after the fact.”
Armstrong added that people in Park City probably do not hear about some of the abuse that goes on throughout the rest of the state, especially in Davis County and Ogden. Many of those cases could have been prevented.
“Armstrong said many students and teachers are not trained to recognize signs of abuse and are not comfortable taking the steps necessary when they do see them.
By law, she said, “they are required to report it even if they have a suspicion that there is child abuse is going on in the family.”
Abuse covers a wide range of problems and many people, Armstrong said, don’t recognize them until it’s too late.
“Child abuse doesn’t just cover physical, sexual or mental abuse,” Armstrong said. “It also involves neglect.”
Armstrong said some signs of neglect may be behavioral problems or children who go to school without bathing or who wear the same clothes for weeks.
“It goes beyond seeing bruises. We are here to protect our children. Armstrong said. “It’s so important that we provide a means to help these children. What Prevent Child Abuse Utah does is give the training to recognize signs of child abuse.”
Knowledge is power, according to Armstrong.
“If you don’t know that you are perpetrating child abuse, how are you going to help yourself?” Armstrong said.
A few years ago, Armstrong got involved with Prevent Child Abuse Utah because of the disturbing events she witnessed on the news.
“I thought, ‘Why is this happening?’ It all made me angry; there was nobody to help these kids. People aren’t doing enough,” Armstrong said. “There’s got to be a way to educate some of these parents to prevent child abuse. Prevention can be done through education and training.”
Freimuth began working with the organization for similar reasons. Once she started having her own children, her compassion for others drove her. Although she is a witness to abuse, she also has observed some of the good work people do and said it has improved greatly from 10 years ago.
“I saw too many situations in schools and it kind of became my passion,” Freimuth said. “It’s the best job in the world. You work with people that really care about kids like teachers and doctors. We see the bad side of it and the good side of it.”
Abuse, Freimuth said, is the source of many other social problems such as violence and drug and alcohol abuse. She said 80 percent of adults that are raped were abused as children.
“When a child is abused, it takes away a lot of potential,” Freimuth said. “If you are coming from an abuse situation then you don’t do well in school, then you hang out with the wrong kids, then you have substance abuse, and you can’t get a good job and the cycle continues. It puts you in situations where you are not going to succeed.”
The problems that are associated with abuse are costing taxpayers to help with health costs and crime. The money, Freimuth said, could be spent on programs to prevent those problems.
“It’s driving up health costs. It’s easier if we can prevent it up front than fix it afterwards,” Freimuth said. “We always spend dollars on cancer, substance abuse but we don’t spend enough on people learning skill sets. Reaching out and helping people cope, all of these things cost money. Child abuse is a national emergency.”
The Prevent Child Abuse Utah fundraising dinner will take place at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City May 5. To reserve a spot or for more information, call 1-800-CHILDREN or visit www.preventchildabuseutah.org .