Blue pinwheel gardens take root

LIHUE — The Girl Scouts couldn’t plant blue pinwheels last Monday during a rotunda rally that launched the observance of April as child abuse prevention month. A lot of them were in school.

But later in the week, scouts from Troops 775 and 823 planted a pinwheel garden symbolizing child abuse prevention at the offices of Emergency Medical Services, Kauai’s ambulance service providers.

Blue pinwheels will sprout at different locations throughout the month as the Girl Scouts embark on a schedule to plant gardens in support of child abuse prevention, in an effort coordinated by the Children’s Justice Center.

“We’ve got the home-school Scouts planting the Children’s Justice Center garden Tuesday at 11 a.m.,” said Angela Hoover, the Girl Scouts Kauai island coordinator.

After-school Brownies from Elsie Wilcox Elementary School also planted a garden near the school’s flagpole. But, Hoover added, “The pinwheels aren’t restricted to Lihue. We’ve got some Scouts who are planning to do a garden at the Hanalei Elementary School, and the after-school Scouts at Eleele Elementary School are also planning on planting a pinwheel garden on the west side at their school.”

Girl Scouts will plant a pinwheel garden at the State Department of Health office Wednesday at 3 p.m. More gardens will sprout at the Sequenced Transition to Elementary Public School parent and child fair Saturday at Kukui Grove Center which starts at 9 a.m.

The Kauai Police Department building will see its garden take shape on April 24 at 3:30 p.m., a day ahead of the YWCA of Kauai Open House where blue pinwheels will welcome guests to its Denim Day and Sexual Assault Awareness program starting at 3 p.m.

Teresa Caires of Girl Scout Troop 823 said her Scouts planted pinwheels at the Kauai Community College One Stop Center ahead of Saturday’s Garden Fair and Boy Scout Makahiki, and they have another garden planned.

“A lot of the Scouts live in Puali Villas in Puhi,” Caires said. “We approached the community board and they approved a pinwheel garden at the front of the community. We’ll be doing that on April 14 starting at 10:30 a.m. The pinwheel garden at the Puali Villas will be available for viewing until April 29.”