|
|
MISSING CHILDREN’S DAY - MAY 25TH 2005
May 25th was proclaimed Missing Children's Day by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and has been honored by every administration since. Falling between Mother's Day and Father's Day, Missing Children's Day, May 25th, is a time for all of us to remember the pain and anguish felt by the searching families of a missing or abducted child. Missing Children's Day is also an opportunity to help out in the search for missing and abducted children by paying close attention to the posters and pictures of missing children and report any sightings. It is also a chance to learn about child identification and safety so future abduction can be prevented.
|
|
|
The
Vanished Children's Alliance and San Jose Police Department held a joint press
conference on Wednesday, May 25th, 2005 to recognize National Missing
Children's Day and raise awareness about the serious issue of missing and
abducted children. Speakers included San Jose Chief of Police, Robert Davis,
Executive Director and Founder of the Vanished Children's Alliance, Georgia K.
Hilgeman-Hammond, San Jose Police Officer, Brian Spears and Santee Elementary
Counselor, Misty Batch. The press conference was held at 9am at the San Jose
Police Department
Headquarters
at 201 West Mission Street. The event was attended by representatives of
Univision 14, KNTV 11, KGO Radio, Sing Tao Daily and Ming Pao Daily News.
Officer
Brian Spears, an eight-year veteran of the Police Department and a former
pre-school teacher was at home recovering from an on-duty injury. After looking
repeatedly at news coverage of abducted and missing children, Brian decided to
become involved. He had the idea of putting images of missing and abducted
children on T-shirts. He contacted the VCA for images and local businesses for
T-shirts, printing machines and transfer paper. Officer Spears’ distributed
these t-shirts on May 25th, 2005. His efforts led to the Missing
Children’s Day press conference.
