Children’s Safe Harbor’s pinwheel display hits Conroe on multi-county tour

THE WOODLANDS, TX – For the 15th year, CHildren’s Safe Harbor – a locally based nonprofit organization and child advocacy group whose mission is to protect all at-risk children in the region – planted pinwheels representing lives saved by the organization. Instead of the typical single-day event, this year there will be a total of four planting locations on different days. The event on Tuesday, April 15, took place at the Lone Star Convention Center in Conroe.

“This is the first time we’ve gone to four locations,” Victoria Constance, executive director of Children’s Safe Harbor, told Woodlands Online. “It’s about spreading the message. In the past, we’ve just moved the event across the county to a day at one location. But we’re a multi-county agency – we serve Walker and San Jacinto Counties alongside Montgomery County – and Elan Crane, a board member, asked the Walker County Commissioners Court if we could plant 151 beautiful pinwheels around their courthouse. Next was San Jacinto County, where 76 pinwheels sit around a gazebo in Coldspring throughout the entire month. And today’s installation is here at the Lone Star Convention Center because we’re on the last day of our regional child abuse prevention conference and we’re educating the community about our work and our message of ‘justice, healing, and hope.’ Our final stop will be on April 23 in front of the Mayor’s spot in Magnolia.”

Each pinwheel represents the life of a child saved by the organization. Each year, law enforcement, community leaders, and members of the public gather to plant pinwheels for a daylong display. A large sign notifies passers-by of the significance of the pinwheels, which typically remain in place for members of the public to view and spread the word.

Once again, members of a nonprofit organization called Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) attended the event. The organization of motorcycle-riding warriors has more than two dozen chapters in Texas, and each chapter has a level 1 adoption where a child is invited into a member’s family. There are 50 children per year in the Montgomery County chapter. The organization’s mission is to empower kids and to make them unafraid of the world in which they live, and to help them become kids again.

One particularly special and welcome guest was Oaklee, a Bernedoodle breed of dog, who is Children’s Safe Harbor’s official therapy dog. This furry figure of fun was a hit at the event. Oaklee is a certified therapy dog and apparently takes her job very seriously despite her young age of three years.

Woodlands Online managed to talk to Paul Johnson, the owner of Oaklee. “Years ago, my aunt passed away after a lifetime dedicated to raising her family. We donated her things to Children’s Safe Harbor, and I remembered them and their mission after Oaklee I and had been visiting nursing homes. We decided to bring her to the children – we wanted to do something for children in need – so we came to Children’s Safe Harbor,” he said.

This has been a banner year for Children’s Safe Harbor in its fight to protect children; just recently the beam-signing stage of its new facilities took place, and Constance expects full occupation and operations well before the end of the year.