{"id":17456,"date":"2020-04-29T14:48:03","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T19:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.childrenshomeandaid.org\/?p=17456"},"modified":"2023-09-12T15:55:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T20:55:03","slug":"2020-walton-blue-bow-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brightpoint.org\/2020-walton-blue-bow-award\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 Walton Blue Bow Award – The Robert G. Cunningham Family"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Every April, Children\u2019s Home & Aid\u2019s Blue Bow Committee gives the Walton Blue Bow Award for significant contribution to the prevention of child abuse and neglect.  The name of the award honors Sue Walton, an educator and the founder of the Blue Bow Campaign at Children\u2019s Home & Aid twenty-six years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s recipient is The Robert G. Cunningham Family. Receiving this award on behalf of the family is Peg Cunningham, who served on the Blue Bow Committee for over two decades!  Peg represented the Cook County State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s office on the committee, where she worked for several years. She coordinated Blue Bow book drives for children, organized events to tie blue bows on trees at courthouses, and got judges involved in the campaign. She attempted to unite court systems in the Blue Bow Campaign and advocated for parent support programs like Children\u2019s Home & Aid\u2019s Parents Care & Share program. Peg also spoke to community groups to educate them about child abuse and neglect and solutions for families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peg\u2019s father, the late Robert G. Cunningham, was also involved in the annual Blue Bow Campaigns.  He financially contributed to the campaigns and included the company he owned, Midwest Cargo Systems, in the campaign by tying blue bows on his trucks.  Peg attributes her passion for community service to her father.  \u201cHe taught me that those to whom much is given, have much to give back to others,\u201d Peg tell us. \u201cAnd whatever I asked my dad to do for the Blue Bow campaign, he would always do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earl Kloppmann, the leader of the Blue Bow Committee, says, \u201cPeg was an enormous help every year to our successful community Blue Bow campaigns. She always had new ideas for greater effectiveness, leveraged her many connections to enrich the campaign, and helped us make good decisions. Year in, year out, Peg was committed to the campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Blue Bow Campaign is important,\u201d insists Peg. \u201cFor many years, child abuse was something people didn\u2019t talk about. I\u2019m old enough to remember seeing a child who had black and blue marks and someone saying don\u2019t stare just look away. The Blue Bow Campaign gets the conversation started and makes society aware that abuse is not okay, that families need help, and children need to be protected, nurtured, and loved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there is one message that I want to communicate,\u201d adds Peg \u201cIt\u2019s that child abuse is a serious problem. It\u2019s not okay to look away, brush it under the carpet, or assume it\u2019s just a family\u2019s problem. People and communities need to get involved.\u201d  Peg believes we have to keep at the message year after year.  \u201cTalk. Talk. Talk.  Look people in the eye and say, \u2018It\u2019s not okay for children to be hurt. If you saw an adult being assaulted, you\u2019d be up in arms and the police.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peg says that one of the many results of the Blue Bow Campaign is that people are beginning to understand that this is not just a family problem but a community problem. It will take the involvement of the entire community to solve it.  \u201cThe needle is moving forward, and I\u2019ve seen changes in how teachers, law enforcement, and other agencies deal with abuse as they get better tools and more knowledge about the problem,\u201d said Peg.  Another strength of Child Abuse Prevention Month is that local Blue Bow events highlight community resources that are available for families. \u201cIt is important that families know there is somewhere they can go and get help, so the cycle doesn\u2019t continue to repeat,\u201d said Peg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peg believes one of the ways we can help everyone make a difference is by removing the stigma from child abuse so that it becomes as loud a conversation as any other pressing issues we face.  \u201cThen, children and families will feel able to reach out and get the help they need,\u201d said Peg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations and thank you to Peg and the entire Robert G. Cunningham Family!<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every April, Children\u2019s Home & Aid\u2019s Blue Bow Committee gives the Walton Blue Bow Award for significant contribution to the prevention of child abuse and neglect.  The name of the award honors Sue […]","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"inline_featured_image":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[405],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brightpoint.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17456"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brightpoint.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brightpoint.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brightpoint.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brightpoint.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17456"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.brightpoint.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29690,"href":"https:\/\/www.brightpoint.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17456\/revisions\/29690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brightpoint.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brightpoint.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brightpoint.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}