TOMORROW IS NATIONAL MISSING CHILDREN'S DAY - COURTESY OF RONALD REAGAN

BUSINESSWIRE.COM:

National Missing Children's Day will be observed tomorrow, May 25, 2007.

The wireless industry, in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the U.S. Department of Justice, supports this important day and reminds wireless consumers of the vital role they can play to aid in the recovery of abducted children by registering to receive free Wireless AMBER Alerts™.

Nearly 30 wireless carriers which collectively serve over 93% of all U.S. wireless subscribers currently offer the Wireless AMBER Alerts™ program to their subscribers.

“National Missing Children’s Day is a critical reminder of the dangers facing abducted children,” said Steve Largent, President of The Wireless Foundation and President and CEO of CTIA-The Wireless Association®. “Through the Wireless AMBER Alerts™ program, the technology millions of people use every single day to catch up with friends and family can now be used to help catch a child abductor.

I encourage all wireless users to go to www.wirelessamberalerts.org and sign up at no cost to receive free text messages anytime an AMBER Alert has been issued in their area.”

... President Ronald Reagan designated May 25 as National Missing Children’s Day in 1983. Since then, every acting President has honored the day.

It was on May 25, 1979, that six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared from a New York City street corner on his way to school.

This high profile case, the tragic abduction and murder of Adam Walsh from Florida and the 29 murdered children and young adults of Atlanta served as catalysts for new laws to protect children from those who would harm them and sparked the creation of NCMEC.

“This National Missing Children’s Day we celebrate the strong partnership between the public and private sectors who work together to recover abducted children,” said Regina B. Schofield, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs and the National AMBER Alert Coordinator. “Through the Wireless AMBER Alerts initiative anyone with a cell phone can play a vital role in keeping our children safe.”

AMBER stands for “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response” and was created in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to find abducted children.

The AMBER Alert Program was soon adopted across the nation and is a legacy to Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then murdered. All 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington DC have since established AMBER Alert programs.

President Bush authorized the national AMBER Alert program as part of the PROTECT Act signed in 2003.

And there's this:

The National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) is pleased to join with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and focus attention on Take 25, a national preventive safety campaign.

NCMEC’s Take 25 program encourages parents and guardians to devote at least 25 minutes on May 25th, National Missing Children’s Day, to talk to their children concerning things they can do to be more safe. Take 25 is designed to be an ongoing program that aims to promote frequent discussions within families and communities about child safety.

Let's not forget Madeline and her family:

The parents of a British girl who vanished 20 days ago during a family vacation in Portugal prayed Wednesday at the holy site in Fatima for her safe return. Gerry and Kate McCann were greeted by kisses and good wishes from other visitors to the Roman Catholic shrine in central Portugal, where three shepherd children claimed the Virgin Mary appeared to them 90 years ago.

The McCanns' 4-year-old daughter Madeleine disappeared May 3 after they left her and her brother and sister, 2-year-old twins, alone in their room while they went to a restaurant inside their hotel complex in Portugal's Algarve region.

WE MUST PROTECT OUR CHILDREN.

UPDATE:

THE MCCANN'S HAVE JUST RELEASED THIS - THE LAST PHOTO THEY TOOK OF MADELINE JUST HOURS BEFORE SHE WAS KIDNAPPED. SHE IS ON THE RIGHT.

THERE ARE REPORTS SHE WAS SEEN SEVERAL DAYS AGO IN MOROCCO.

PRAY FOR HER AND HER FAMILY.