Harvest Of Hope To Shed Light On Child Abuse In Madison County

Food Trucks, Auction, The Smash Band, and a great night on the farm, to support the Madison County Child Advocacy Center.  Harvest of Hope, held on Friday October 9^th, at Willoughby Farm in Collinsville, is the Child Advocacy Center’s premiere fall benefit event.  The event will be from 6:00-11:00 p.m. and will feature an auction, food trucks, The Smash Band of St. Louis and dancing. Harvest of Hope has a relaxed feel and those in attendance will be able to enjoy the openness of Willoughby Farm.

The Madison County Child Advocacy Center located in Wood River, conducts forensic interviews of children involved in allegations of severe physical and sexual abuse. It is estimated that nearly 3,500 children are physically and/or sexually abused in Madison County each year, although only 10 percent of sexual abuse cases are ever reported.  The Madison County Child Advocacy Center (CAC) is available to help when child abuse has been reported.  The goal of the CAC is to minimize trauma by conducting one, coordinated forensic interview with the child. The Madison County Child Advocacy Center is an accredited member of the National Children’s Alliance and is designed to make children as comfortable as possible.  The CAC provides a safe, child-friendly place where children are interviewed.  The waiting rooms are furnished with child and teen friendly furniture and toys so the child feels more relaxed.  The children find a comfortable, positive atmosphere, where they are supported by a multidisciplinary team of professionals.

Carrie Cohan, Executive Director, says that in order to be able to continue serving children in Madison County, the Center has to fundraise through events and individual, and corporate donors. “Fundraising is vital to the Center. By holding events such as Harvest of Hope, we want our community to not only be aware of the ways we’re serving children, but to help support the center as well.” Cohan says the Center is still accepting sponsors for this event. “We have developed a really comprehensive sponsorship package that has excellent benefits for those organizations and individuals that would choose to sponsor.” For additional sponsorship opportunities, please contact Claire Cooper at 618-296-5398.   Tickets for Harvest of Hope and additional information about the event, may be found online at www.madco-cac.org

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