FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Melissa Turnquist (Associate Director), 713.599.0235, support@tcftm.org
Texas Center for the Missing, P.O. Box 420148, Houston, TX 77242
Texas Center for the Missing Launches Missing Children’s Poster Contest in Texas
Houston, TX – January 13, 2009. Today, Texas Center for the Missing is launching the statewide level of a national poster contest which focuses on the theme: Bring Our Missing Children Home. With over 400 children returning home safely since the AMBER Alert program began, we chose AMBER Alert Awareness Day to initiate conversations with students about safety and to involve them in a national competition for the National Missing Children’s Day Poster Contest.
The U.S. Department of Justice, through its Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Child Protection Division, sponsors this annual contest for 5th grade students to develop artwork that will represent America’s united goal to bring missing children home safely.
The winning artwork at the national level is displayed at the National Missing Children’s Day ceremony, to be held on or about May 25th. The national winner travels to Washington, DC, along with his/her parents and teacher to receive an award and participate in the ceremony. It is a fitting time for our 5th grade students to focus on this project. As the nation remembers two children who represent missing children everywhere, Amber Hagerman and Etan Patz, we also celebrate the safe homecomings of children everywhere. Texas Center for the Missing invites all schools (public, private, or home) to participate in this unique contest. A Fact Sheet with additional details regarding the Texas statewide contest can be found at: http://www.thetexascenter.org/5th_Grader_Posters/2009_Contest_Fact_Sheet-Texas.pdf.
“It is extraordinary to give our students an opportunity to compete nationally in an art contest of such importance, especially as it gives Texas educators a chance to teach them more about their safety,” said Beth Alberts, Texas Center for the Missing CEO “We know that there is great talent in our area and we hope to send one of our local students to Washington, DC.”
About:
AMBER Alerts and Amber Hagerman: The Amber Alert Program began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. The Amber Alert was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then brutally murdered. Other states and communities soon set up their own Amber plans as the idea was adopted across the nation. For more information about the Houston Regional Amber Program, visit www.amber-plan.net.
National Missing Children’s Day and Etan Patz: On May 25, 1979, 6-year-old Etan Patz grabbed his school books and gave his mother a goodbye kiss before leaving to catch the bus to school. Etan's mother was never to see him again. In the years that followed, Etan became the symbol for lost children across America. Then, in 1982, President Reagan proclaimed May 25, the anniversary of Etan's disappearance, as National Missing Children's Day.
Texas Center for the Missing is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to offering help, and hope, to the missing and their families. As the administrator of the Houston Regional Amber Alert, Texas Center for the Missing trains law enforcement on the Amber Alert system and provides 24-hour support and consulting to law enforcement agencies in the 13-county region in and around Houston. Safety education programs are also offered to the community to prevent Internet lures and child abductions, including S.A.F.E. child puppet shows, missing child prevention for parents, and Internet safety for all ages. Visit www.thetexascenter.org to learn more.
P.O. Box 420148 Houston, TX 77242-0148 (p) 713.599.0235
www.thetexascenter.org
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