Easter came early for about 30 kids at the Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center on Tuesday.

Kappa Delta Sorority of Troy University hosted its annual Easter Egg Hunt at the CAC. Members distributed around 400 plastic eggs with surprises inside and let the kids find them and put them in their own Easter bag.

“We are very grateful that Kappa Delta comes over every year and does the Easter Egg Hunt,” said Camille Downing, director of the Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center. “It gives the KD’s the opportunity to work with the community, and it gives kids a break from school and a chance to have fun for free.”

The event also leads into the month-long activities of Child Abuse Awareness Month. Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center is will host the Pike County Proclamation Day at noon on April 6. Tajuan McCarty, founder of The WellHouse will be the guest speaker.

“She is an excellent speaker, and her testimony will move anyone,” Downing said. “We are encouraging the community to come out and just listen. She really has a stirring message to give to everyone.”

McCarty will discuss the issue of human trafficking and how it is increasing.

“She is a survivor, and some victims don’t survive,” Downing said. “She

The WellHouse is a nonprofit, faith-based and Christ-centered agency dedicated to rescuing women from sexual exploitation/human trafficking. McCarty was trafficked to Birmingham at 15, after she was sexually exploited by her boyfriend, who turned out to be a pimp.

McCarty has been recognized as one of The Top 20 Women Who Make a Difference in Birmingham and has accepted The FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award on behalf of The WellHouse for her efforts to fight human trafficking.

After McCarty speaks, refreshments will be served, and anyone is able to take a tour of the center.

The Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center covers four counties, and each county will host a Proclamation Day.

This year, The Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center’s slogan for Child Abuse Awareness Month is “Have a heart, do you part.”

To raise money during Child Abuse Awareness month, the Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center is selling T-shirts and blue ribbons throughout the month of April.

The ribbons are blue to represent the children that are battered and bruised. Each ribbon comes with the story of how the blue ribbons originated in the Blue Ribbon Campaign in 1989.

T-shirts and blue ribbons can be ordered at the center or on their website at www.pikeregionalcac.com or at The Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center.