By Kristina Pritchett
Last weekend, thousands of pinwheels could been seen in the Dana Point Harbor to symbolize the amount of children that are in the Orange County foster care system.
To raise consciousness of Foster Care Awareness Month, Court Appointed Special Advocates of Orange County (CASA-OC) displayed different color pinwheels along the Harbor to represent different categories of children in the county’s foster care system.
There were 500 red pinwheels to show how many children CASA-OC is currently serving, 250 white pinwheels to represent the children that have been referred to the agency from Dependency Court and are on a wait list, and 2,250 blue pinwheels to show the amount children in the foster care system who comprise some of the most vulnerable members of the community, according to a statement.
“We’ve never done an event like this before, we wanted it to coincide with Foster Care Awareness Month and bring awareness and put a spotlight on these kids in the foster care system,” said Matthew Wadlinger, advancement manager for CASA-OC.
He said it went well and a lot of people stopped to check out the pinwheels.
CASA is a privately-funded nonprofit organization that serves severely abused, neglected and abandoned children through recruitment, training and continued support of volunteers who advocate and mentor the children.
The event also raised money for the organization by having sponsors donate $5 for each pinwheel. In total, they hope to raise $1,500.
For more information about the group, or to sponsor a pinwheel, visit www.casaoc.org/pinwheel.
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