Florida National University (FNU), its POWERHOUSE, and the Dr. Jose Regueiro Foundation have collaborated to present the Fifth Annual Missing Children’s Awareness and Prevention Rally, May 30 at 10 a.m., at FNU’s Main Campus located at 4425 W 20 Ave., Hialeah, FL 33012. Missing Children is an epidemic that plagues our global community every single day. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that roughly 800,000 children are reported as missing in the United States each year. Of those children that are reported missing, about 20 percent are not found alive.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 25 as National Missing Children’s Day. Each year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) commemorates Missing Children’s Day with a ceremony honoring the heroic and exemplary efforts of agencies, organizations, and individuals to protect children. Dr. Maria Cristina Regueiro, President/CEO of Florida National University proclaims: “Together, we are creating the educational awareness needed to avoid our children and youth from being taken by criminals.” FNU, its POWERHOUSE and the Dr. Jose Regueiro Foundation cannot sit idly by and let our children continue to be taken from their families and stripped of their freedom.
Missing Children’s Day is dedicated to encouraging parents, guardians, caregivers, and others concerned with the well being of children to make child safety a priority. This and other missing children rallies serve as a reminder to continue our efforts to reunite missing children with their families as well as educate more than a thousand youth that attend this rally every year. Many elementary – middle – and high-school students attend the awareness and prevention rallies at FNU joined by dignitaries, law enforcement officials, corporate and non-for profit entities, and the list goes on.
Numerous experts in the field inform and educate the crowd on the many tactics that criminals utilize to steal our children every day. Tips and facts are given at the rally on this atrocious crime to prevent further victimizations. Ana VeigaMilton, President of the Jose Milton Foundation said, “My family is proud and elated to commit to a safer Miami by investing in and partnering with FNU’s Powerhouse over the next three years. I am proud to continue our family‘s mission to elevate our community and our world through education and engagement. Together, we will eliminate these abhorrent maladies of Human Trafficking, Missing Children and Domestic/Teen Dating Violence which plague society!”
