Hundreds take part in breaking the silence of child abuse

Hundreds of runners braved the heat and blasts of blue Sunday for the Life Crisis Center's 2nd Annual Color Run.

Participants were covered in blue, the color that represents child abuse, to raise awareness on the issue.

One runner tells 47 ABC, "This is very dear to my heart because I do have children and I just think it's a really awesome cause."

As runners turned the final corner of the race, they were reminded yet again of what it was all about.

Volunteers handed each runner  blue pinwheels, which were planted all over the city of salisbury during the month of April.

Each pinwheel symbolizing a victim of child abuse.

The Director of Legal Services for the Life Crisis Center, Abby Marsh, calls child abuse the silent epidemic, even in Wicomico County.

"Every year there have been an excess of 500 cases of child abuse that includes physical and sexual child abuse but it's a serious problem that people aren't aware of and the reality is people not only aren't aware of it, but there were 500 cases that were reported. How many hundreds of cases are not reported," Marsh explains.

Marsh says this run and the entire pinwheel campaign is all about breaking the silence. She explains silence protects the predator not the children, but says the community response on Sunday was remarkable.

"You know that people want to help and they want to help and protect our children but when you see what the community is willing to do to actually put that into concrete terms is amazing."
 
Each runner ready to turn their white shirts blue and without a doubt in their minds, even with the heat, of taking part in breaking the silence.

"It's all worth it. I would do it again if I had to get right back out there and start all over again for sure," says one runner.

Another adds, "It was really really awesome I would definitely do this again next year."

Plus, the participants enjoyed an after party filled with food, cupcakes, and bouncy houses thanks to Olympia Fitness.

Marsh says all the funds raised from the pinwheels campaign are going to the Life Crisis Center's child therapy programs in the lower eastern shore of Maryland.