TRAVERSE CITY -- April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and on Saturday, the Traverse Bay Children's Advocacy Center in Traverse City made it their mission to educate the community by hosting it's 2nd annual Zero Tolerance event at the State Theatre.
The event was a community celebration but also aimed to educate and begin shining light on the realties of child abuse within our community.Organizers say the activities are a perfect way to raise awareness about child abuse and focus on efforts to stop it.
"We really need to come together as a community to solve this issue of child abuse and really put an end to it because there is 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys who will be sexually abused by the time they're 18 and that's an epidemic proportion," said Brooke Nettz, Executive Director of The Traverse Bay Children's Advocacy Center.
One highlight of the event was families were greeted by hoop dancers from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. Following the indoor celebration, community members headed outside to join a special parade on Front street in downtown Traverse City.
