A grown-up version of a child’s toy is spinning its way to raise funds for the Child Safety Center of White County in Searcy.
The second annual Pinwheels for Provisions, organized by Child Safety Center board member Allison Camferdam, will be May 5 in Searcy.
The Child Safety Center of White County is a child advocacy center. Camferdam said the center works with children who have been sexually or physically abused. The staff works with these children in a nonthreatening environment with law enforcement officials.
“It helps the police get a better conviction rate,” Camferdam said. “Everything can be done at one time. [The center] also offers continuing services in therapy for abused children.”
Camferdam said she became involved with the Child Safety Center after she and her husband, Robert, moved to Searcy five years ago.
“Robin Connell, [executive director of the center], was a casual friend of mine,” Camferdam said. “I had another friend, [Susan Neaville], on the board. My husband and I had lost our second child in 2013. [Nicholas] had been born with a lot of health problems. After he died, my other child, [Jeffords, 10], was in school. I had a lot of free time, and I kind of needed to channel that. I didn’t have anyone to take care of at the time during school hours.”
The Camferdams also have a daughter, Katherine, 7, who was adopted after Nicholas died.
Camferdam said Connell and Neaville suggested that she help with the Glo Run, another fundraiser for the Child Safety Center.
“I started out just folding T-shirts to be stuck into race packets. … That is how I got involved,” Camferdam said. “I really thought I was helping out.”
Camferdam said she began to see a need for the center in Searcy the more she visited there.
“At the same time, I was helping kids, and it was helping me with the loss of my child, being able to put that energy into something else for children,” she said. “Eventually, I got more involved. I’m now on the board, and I’m over the pinwheel party. A lot of people help with it, but I came up with the concept.”
Camferdam said the pinwheel is the national symbol for child abuse.
“We were rebranding the center with a new logo with a pinwheel,” she said. “Since it’s the national symbol of child abuse, I just got to thinking one day, ‘What could we do with that and turn it into a fundraiser?’”
Camferdam said she’s an artsy person, and she thought auctioning pinwheels after they were painted by artists would be a good way to raise funds for the center.
“I just threw it out there, and the rest of the committee thought it would be a good idea,” she said. “We found someone who could make the metal pinwheels. We just started contacting local artists, and they were all happy to paint something for us. That is how it all came about.”
The pinwheels are close to 17 inches tall, and they are inserted into a flower pot. A year ago, the event raised close to $15,000.
“It is wonderful,” Camferdam said. “We also have people who sponsor the party. Each pinwheel has a sponsor that goes with it. That is part of how we raise the money. They are auctioned off, and we sell tickets to the party.”
The Pinwheels for Provisions will start at 6:30 p.m. May 5 at the home of Buddy and Amy Williams, 113 Club Creek Drive in Searcy. Tickets are $40 and are available by calling (501) 268-4748 or by emailing robinconnell@yahoo.com.
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.