Parkersburg News and Sentinel – During what the song says is “the most wonderful time of the year,” much of what we adults do to make it magical is for children. We want them to feel the joy and love of the season, we want to give them what we can, we want to help them understand the reason for our celebration (and to therefore become the kinds of people who grow up wanting to give more than they want to receive). We invite into our homes elves — jolly and old, or on a shelf. We decorate, we bake, we shop … so much of it is to light up the eyes of the children in our lives.
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With them in mind, then, it seems a perfect time to dive in to the annual West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy KIDS COUNT Data Book — a look at the well-being of Mountain State children through numbers.
Here in Wood County, data from 2023 shows there are 83,340 residents — 17,576 of them are under the age of 18.
