Nonprofit of the Week

Prevent Child Abuse Athens is by far one of my favorite nonprofit organizations in Athens. Last semester APO worked with them on a few different fundraising projects and they were awesome! They're very active in Athens, and truly provide a great service to the community. 

The mission of PCAA is "to prevent child abuse and neglect in all its forms -- physical, sexual, emotional, and neglect -- through education, support, and public awareness." PCAA runs multiple programs that offer everything from help for first time moms to education about recognizing child abuse. The programs they offer are: 

• Healthy Families -- volunteers make house visits to see how parents are handling the transition into parenthood. Typically these visits continue for up to 4 years, and during that time parents are given resources within the community and support.
• First Steps -- trains the volunteers that work with Healthy Families.
• Parenting Classes -- Offered in a variety of places throughout the community and educate parents in non-physical discipline and positive communication.
• Community Education -- creates presentations for the community on preventing, recognizing, and reporting child abuse. 

Because PCAA is a nonprofit organization, fundraising is clearly a huge part of this organization. Last semester APO participated in several fundraising activities for PCAA including:  a percentage night at Five Guys, a diaper drive, and a reverse car wash (best event ever! we car painted spirit onto people's cars before the Alabama game). PCAA also holds an annual fundraising event called Starry, Starry Night-- a dinner and auction-- that raises a good amount of their fundraising. They also hold a Prevent child abuse walk in the spring that gains a lot of attention from the community. 

A quick trip to the website reveals just how involved PCAA is with the Athens community. Several UGA organizations work with them and even more donate money. The positive work they do can be seen all over Athens. If you want any more information check them out at: www.pcaathens.org Enjoy!