The Carbon County Family Support and Children’s Justice Center (CJC) has many events and activities that they host year-round so it was only fitting for Castle Country Radio to sit down with Director, Shelley Wright to speak about how the year went for the CJC.

“Coming out of the rough year of 2020, we really had a successful year and when I mean by success, I mean that the community has been so generous to the center and when they’re generous to the center that means they’re generous to the community. Because a lot of the items that they bring and donate to the center we are able to donate to families, children and obviously use items, a lot of the items at the center,” explained Wright. It also has been a successful year due to the employees and volunteers working together as a team at the center.

Things really kick-off for the year at the center during the month of April as it is Child Abuse Prevention Month. “We kind of start off probably the end of March, we start posting items to our social media pages, just to bring awareness to the community, let them know, hey, April is Child Abuse Awareness, let’s be aware of what’s going on. It really does take a community and a village to raise our kids, and there are a lot of families out there that really just need some more support,” said Wright. During the awareness month the CJC takes time to plant pinwheels on Main Street near the Price City Peace Garden. The pinwheels represent innocence and is the national symbol for child abuse prevention.

The CJC also held a great Trunk or Treat event in October. “That was probably the biggest Halloween event we’ve every had. We had I think we had served over 500 people. We ran out of candy. We had different agencies and groups throughout the community that assisted. We had Head Start, we had the college, it was just awesome to have that extra support,” said Wright. This was a really fun way for the CJC to give back to the community.

The year closed out with the annual Christmas Tree Regalia which took place on Price City’s Main Street. “Our board has been very, very active in not just raising money for the center but just making this a community event and just trying to involve families and children. What better way then to have it on Main Street and then have the support from the different businesses,” said Wright. The regalia brought in over 50 trees that were set up inside businesses along Main Street. The community was invited to visit these trees and bid on them if they chose to. The profits from the regalia are still being calculated but officials state that this year was a huge success thanks to the community.