Pierce County Beyond the Blue Ribbon Award
The Pierce County Child Abuse Prevention Team received the $1,000 cash award for its 2003
Child Abuse Prevention Month campaign "children need you" to prevent child abuse and neglect.
The Beyond the Blue Ribbon Award was created in 2001 by the Child Abuse Prevention Fund, the
Children’s Trust Fund, and Prevent Child Abuse Wisconsin, whose missions' focus on preventing
child abuse and neglect. The three organizations make a cash award each year for the most
innovative, creative, and far-reaching public information campaign.
Norma Sampson, communications director for the Children’s Trust Fund and a member of the
Beyond the Blue Ribbon Award committee, says, "For a rural community, the Pierce County team’s
numbers were off the chart! Members distributed 5,000 prevention month packets, 7,200 blue
ribbons that they made themselves, and 10,000 prevention bookmarks."
Community Involvement Sets Pierce County Team Apart
More than 25 organizations, area churches, and local businesses helped spread the word about child
abuse prevention during April in Pierce County. Twelve local restaurants used child abuse prevention
placemats that the Pierce County Child Abuse Prevention Team distributed. The team also challenged
4-H Clubs to create a bulletin board or community display about child abuse prevention. Media coverage
was another countywide effort with radio coverage and a front-page story in the Pierce County Herald.
The Pierce County Child Abuse Prevention Team consists of a group of social workers from the Child
Protection Unit and Juvenile Justice Unit of the Pierce County Department of Human Services. Team
member Julie Schneider says, "We decided to go the extra mile this year, so we applied for and received
campaign funding from the Jim Dollahon Memorial Fund."
Other innovative campaign strategies include the "Chain of Promises" that was on display in the Pierce
County Courthouse during April. More than 650 individual promises, such as "I will hug my child everyday"
were made to the children of Pierce County.
"We had some unexpected and wonderful campaign results," Schneider says. "For example, an area church
donated 25 hand-made quilts to our agency to distribute to children who have been the victims of child
abuse and neglect."