Savannah Exchange Club highlights Child Abuse Prevention Month during their weekly meeting with Juvenile Court Judge Thomas L. Cole speaking on Monday, April 12 at 11:30am at Carey Hilliards at 11111 Abercorn Street.

“Nationally the The Exchange Club spends the month of April bringing awareness to Child Abuse Prevention. Here locally we feature speakers like Rose Grant Robinson with Coastal Child Advocacy, Juvenile Court Judge Thomas L. Cole, Old Savannah City Mission’s Connell Stiles and on the last Monday of April, we will host Dr. James Holtzclaw from Memorial Hospital,” shares Exchange Club President Dianne Cornwell. “Hearing statistics and stories of child abuse raises our awareness and increases our outreach ability.”

“COVID has had a serious impact on Neglect and Abuse cases. Before COVID, Chatham County had nearly 500 children in foster care. Today there are about 350. I would like to say that it is because of the amazing job the courts or DFCS is doing. A bigger factor may be that schools and other youth activities, which are significant reporting sources, are not seeing the children in person,” states Judge Cole.

INFO: Focusing on community needs, the Exchange Club supplies coats and blankets for the homeless at Christmas, feeds the Ronald McDonald House families every third Friday and their biggest project is the South Georgia State Fair with a large percentage of monies raised going to the Jenkins Athletic Club. The next community project is a Red Cross Blood Drive at JAC from 10am-3pm on April 15th.