April is National Child Abuse Awareness month. To help raise awareness in the community, the Tarleton State University Student Social Work Association and the Social Work Child Welfare course are teaming up to host the Blue Ribbon Block Party Saturday, April 5 from 11:00 to 2:00 p.m. at the Tarleton intramural fields.

“It is important for the students to connect their classroom content to an applied learning experience that synthesizes their learning and involves them in both the community and service to others,” the Social Work Program IV-E project director Misty Smith said. “It also promotes Tarleton’s core values of service, civility, and leadership.

“All of the students enrolled in this course will be interfacing with youth in their professional careers, therefore, it is important that they are educated and aware of the signs of abuse to recognize it and know that they may be the first person a child discloses this trauma to,” Smith said.

Last year, the course developed a 5k Walk/Run to benefit three local agencies that serve the youth; Foster’s Home for Children, CASA for the Cross Timbers Area and Paluxy River Child Advocacy Center. Each agency received a donation of $900.

“This year, the students wanted to develop a community event symbolizing a birthday party theme to celebrate the youth in our community,” Smith said. “The Blue Ribbon Block Party is open to the community and will have activities for kids commonly conducted at a birthday party: a bounce house, face painting, teddy bear walk, bing bag toss, photo booth, and other activities.”

During the event, they will be collecting donation items such as clothing, baby items and hygiene items for the Erath County Rainbow Room and Traffic 911 organizations.

“It is important for the community to be involved because this is a community problem that can be stopped,” Smith said. “It is common to hear the question, ‘why should I get involved?’ The best answer is ‘if you don’t, who will?’ By joining together, we can make a difference in the lives of hurting children.”