The 2,000 pinwheels spread out on the Statehouse lawn in Concord on Wednesday was an impressive sight, but it wasn’t enough for Kerry Murchie, statewide outreach coordinator for the Granite State Children’s Alliance.

The sea of spinning pinwheels represented the children and families who have received services of the Granite State Children’s Alliance Child Advocacy Centers in the state. But the scope of abuse goes beyond the display, according to Murchie.

“What we’ve done is laid out 2,000 blue plastic pinwheels out here on the Statehouse lawn,” Murchie said. “Every one of those pinwheels represents one of the children that was seen in one of New Hampshire’s Child Advocacy Centers in the last year with a disclosure of abuse.”

“I wish we had 10,000 pinwheels, because I wish that we were seeing every single child that was abused – because we know that children are being abused and we’re not getting them the services that they need,” Murchie said.

“We would rather have a pinwheel for them, because that pinwheel would tell us that we had access to that child – we were able to talk to them, and we were able to help them.”

The event coincided with Child Abuse Awareness Month and the statewide Beat the Odds campaign by Child Advocacy Centers. The centers coordinate forensic interviews of children who report incidents of potential sexual abuse or who may have witnessed a violent crime. The interviews are conducted by people who are trained to work with children and take place in a child-friendly atmosphere designed to reduce trauma to the child.

The Beat the Odds campaign is an effort to educate the public on the prevalence of child abuse and give them the tools – in their family or in their larger circle of friends – to recognize child abuse and know what to do when they see it, organizers said.

The pinwheels are one way.

“At first, when people are walking by, they stop and ask us what this is about, and we tell them that we’ve seen 2,000 children a year,” Murchie said. “They make this face as if they’re depressed and it’s a terrible thing, but we don’t choose to see it as a terrible thing. We choose to see it as there were 2,000 children that we were able to connect with – 2,000 children that we were able to help.

GSCA board of directors Chairman Chris Hodgdon explained the hidden problem of helping child victims of abuse.

“I know that one in four girls and one in six boys are a victim of child sexual abuse before the age of 18,” Hodgdon said. “I know that only one in 10 of them will disclose before they’re 18, and that hidden epidemic has societal costs which are extraordinary.”

“Unless we raise awareness about it and begin to combat this epidemic, we’re not going to be able to break the cycle for these kids,” Hodgdon said.

The Granite State Children’s Alliance consists of CACs in every county in New Hampshire. Before the midday event, about 20 GSCA staffers and volunteers meticulously placed the pinwheels into the grass in front of the Statehouse. Legislators leaving business inside the building made their way through the mass of blue-and-silver spinning pinwheels as people gathered to hear Gov. Maggie Hassan make remarks.

“It is tough to talk about,” Hodgdon said. “What we know is children who are victims of abuse like this are far more likely to repeat that cycle as they grow older. They’re more likely to be victims of substance abuse. They’re more likely to be adults in a house with domestic violence.

“We know that if we don’t intervene in the child’s life at an early age, their future is not nearly as bright,” said Hodgdon.

The formal program featured Hodgdon’s daughter Grace, carrying a pinwheel, who made a solo walk up a Statehouse sidewalk with pinwheels massed on either side. Hodgdon called it the Walk of Courage.

The walk represented the child’s initial walk alone. Shortly after beginning her walk, she reached Nashua Police Officer Mike Dore.

“That symbolizes the partnership we have with the law enforcement community,” said Hodgdon. The pair then continued the walk hand in hand, stopping near a podium set out for Hassan.

Hassan cited statistics on the numbers of children abused across the country, and praised the work of the GSCA and their Child Advocacy Centers.

“My mom was a teacher in my high school,” Hassan said. “She always said that what kids need more than anything else is knowing they have a grown-up in their corner. The people that are here today are grown-ups in the corner of a lot of New Hampshire children.”

“For a child to disclose to an adult what has happened to them takes an enormous amount of courage. It’s not easy,” said Hodgdon.

“I think the important thing is for parents to learn about the signs of child abuse, learn about what’s going on in their community and do what they can to break the cycle- beat those odds,” he said.