UNDATED - Georgia first lady Mary Perdue hosted the Second Annual Summit on Our Children Wednesday - and Gainesville College hosted one of the regional workshops.<br>
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The first lady's Our Children Campaign encourages attention to the needs of abused and neglected children around the state. <br>
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The Summit was designed to expose people who have never been involved with foster children to the needs in their communities. The governor and first lady have been foster parents to eight infants during their marriage.<br>
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In addition to Gainesville, there were six other regional sites around the state participating in the program with simultaneous workshops.<br>
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Panelists included a cross-section of state and community leaders working directly and indirectly within Georgia's foster care system. <br>
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Since the launch of the First Lady's initiative, 29 new Champions for Children have been announced, including 17 corporate Champions and 12 faith community Champions, who have made an obligation to their community or organization to increase volunteerism and involvement with children in state custody. The Our Children Campaign Web site has reportedly received over 22,000 hits and over 300 calls were placed to the toll-free number. A survey conducted of approximately 100 nonprofits concluded that 13% of the respondents had seen an increase in volunteer hours as a direct result of the 2003 Summit . <br>
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The corporate Champions for Children are AGL Resources, Alston & Bird, Bank of America, ChoicePoint, Equity Group, Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, Georgia Natural Gas, Home Depot, IBM, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, Medical Center of Central Georgia, Memorial Health, Pfizer, Primerica, Spectrum Productions, Synovus, and Wachovia. Faith Community Champions include Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam, Bartow County Women's Resource Center, Georgia Baptist Women's Missionary Union, Lutheran Services of Georgia, McDonough Presbyterian Church, New Birth Missionary Baptist, Northside Baptist, Tifton, Peachtree City Christian Church, Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, and The Father's House. <br>
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In 2003, Georgia received over 90,000 reports of child abuse and about 80% of those children were victims of severe neglect. More than 16,000 children are in foster care, and half of those children have been in state custody for more than 16 months. Despite progress, Georgia still ranks 40 out of 50 states in overall child well being. <br>
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"This year's Summit on Our Children has a new momentum and invigorated hopes for the future of Georgia's children. There are many more resources out there to help build a brighter future for children in foster care, and this Summit and the Our Children Campaign are reaching out to make that possible" said the first lady.
