SALAMANCA — Marking the one-year since the death of a 1-year-old Salamanca girl April 26, over a hundred people gathered Wednesday to spread child abuse awareness in the city.
The Seneca Nation Health System (SNHS) held its annual child abuse awareness event at the Lionel R. John Health Center on R C Hoag Drive with an open house and luncheon in the center’s grand room.
Over a hundred people representing several groups participated in the event’s 1.5-mile awareness walk in the morning.
Beginning at the health center, the walk traveled east down Front Avenue, south down Center Street, west on Broad Street before finishing down R C Hoag Drive to the starting point. It was led by officers from the Salamanca Police, the Seneca National Marshals and a drum group performing traditional Seneca songs.
“Every year, the Seneca Nation puts on a child abuse awareness walk,” said Joelle Cooper, a home-finder in Child and Family Services at SNHS and coordinator of the event. “I reached out to a couple agencies and in-turn it just spiraled. Everybody got on board, reached out to community members and it turned into this.”
One of the biggest groups that attended the walk were family and friends of Mila Whipple with their group, I Miss Mila.
Mila Marie Whipple passed away April 26, 2015 at Women & Children’s Hospital in Buffalo after suffering from injuries likely caused by abuse.
She was born April 13, 2014, in Olean.
Following a 26-day multi-agency investigation, her biological mother, Leslie A. Finch, was charged with manslaughter.
Although Mila’s story was represented, her family wasn’t the only one attending the event.
“There was also family from Gage Seneca,” said Cooper. Three-year-old Gage Martin Seneca, of the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation, died March 5, 2013.
The child died from a head injury after his mother’s boyfriend found the toddler awake and walking around the house early in the morning and then hit him. The boyfriend was sentenced for 21 years in prison.
“There was also family from Ianna Maybee,” Cooper added. “Those were just the families I noticed, but there could have been more in the crowd. It wasn’t just tied to one family. We invited everybody because it was free and open to everyone.”
The event began at 9 a.m. with an open house featuring various community agencies providing service information and awareness to attendees and a bake sale to benefit Child and Family Enrichment (CAFE) and continued until 1 p.m.
Several presentations in regards to child abuse also began at 9 a.m. and continued throughout the morning.
“The first one was from Homeland Security,” explained Cooper. “He had the Erie County Sheriff’s (Department) with him, and they presented on child sex trafficking. After that, we had Karen Hill from the child advocacy center and Deb Westfall from Cattaraugus County CPS, and they presented on both CPS and the advocacy center.”
After lunch, the Bikers Against Child Abuse presented a 15-minute video about their organization, including the “intent to create a safer environment for abused children” and “to empower children to not feel afraid of the world in which they live.”
The Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation, Food For Thought, ECLC, the high school STEP program and Seneca Strong were some of the other agencies who participated in the event.
Although the annual event has been held for several years now, number of participants had been dwindling in recent years. Some coordinators credited the increase of getting the word out and participation from more agencies to the increase in numbers this year.
“The number of people that turned out was very impressive,” said Tracy Pacini, the program coordinator for Child and Family Services. “We’ve been doing this for a number of years and this has been one of our most successful as far as community participation goes.”
Thomas Lay, the chief community services officer, agreed with Pacini.
“I think we were a little more aggressive with getting the word out,” he said.
CAFE and Seneca Strong were new groups to the event. Pacini said that over the past year they were helpful with getting the word out to the community. Seneca Strong provided the lunch and CAFE helped with planning, she said.
“People were saying to me that it was more like a parade this year, and they liked that,” Cooper said. “Before it was much more like a walk, but with the music it was nicer.”
Cooper began working in Child and Family Service in October 2015, with this year’s event being her first big project. She said that with a whole year to gather ideas and going through more experience will prepare her better for next year.
“It’ll be helpful now that we have some roots in there,” she said. “With different things, it’ll be easier to expand and reach out to other agencies as well.”
The first steps in helping abused or neglected children are learning to recognize the signs. If you suspect child abuse or neglect, call the toll-free number 1-800-342-3720, and if a child is in imminent danger, call 911.
(This story appears in the May 5, 2016 edition of The Salamanca Press.)
