What will they write about us, the YSU president asked at Child Abuse Prevention event


STRUTHERS

The challenge is to raise awareness any way possible about child abuse and neglect, said Jim Tressel, president of Youngstown State University and keynote speaker at the 10th annual Pinwheels for Prevention event to recognize April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.

To illustrate, Tressel asked people in the audience to raise pinwheels from their table centerpiece and have their pictures taken to spread awareness via Twitter.

The Pinwheels for Prevention breakfast Wednesday, sponsored by Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley’s Child Advocacy Center and the Mahoning County Children Services Board, was at The Embassy banquet facility.

Tressel said he wanted to leave the audience with a thought of a fictitious character in a book, “The Travelers Gift” by Andy Andrews, his favorite author, who opined that the “The Greatest Generation” was not the generation that is revered for raising itself up and dropping everything to do what the world needed: fight in World War II.

Instead, said Tressel, the fictitious character believes the greatest generation is the one that taught “The Greatest Generation” to be unselfish and care for one another.

Child abuse and neglect can’t go on, Tressel said.

“When we’re long gone, what will they write about us?" he asked.

Read more about the event in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.