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ALBANY, GA --
The Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany and local community officials came together early Thursday morning for a ceremony to observe National Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month.

According to Childhelp.org, there are over 3 million reports of child abuse made every year in the United States.

Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard was the keynote speaker at this morning's ceremony and she says "it's really important that we understand how many kids are being abused in our country, in our city all over the world."

"We want to raise awareness, so that the base population can raise awareness. So, that we can support and bring in resources for stress to help eradicate and assist them in being better parents" said Brenda Ray, MCLB Health and Prevention Coordinator.

Driving home the message of prevention is something the Health and Prevention team plans to help with throughout the month of April.

"We’ll do an annual training with our Marines; the medical clinic will do training with the Marine Corps police department. We have a multi-cultural day where we will have resources out at Covella Pond."

A proclamation was also read and signed by base officials in honor of this month.

"We need to be aware of it, recognize it to know that we are there as help. There are hotlines in almost every state that you could call to report those kinds of things anonymously," Hubbard.

For more information you can go to  Child Abuse Prevention | StopItNow.org and National Child Abuse Prevention Month or you call the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-CHILD