[NEohioPAL]MadArtsCo. Promotes National Runaway Prevention Week

Tue Nov 6 20:47:00 PST 2001

<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV>                                                                MadArtsCo. </DIV>
<DIV> In conjunction with our production of "Forty-Deuce" is helping to promote:</DIV>
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<DIV>NATIONAL RUNAWAY PREVENTION WEEK</DIV>
<DIV>                                          Nov. 5th - 11th</DIV>
 
It's not easy being a kid today.  The decisions and concerns confronting kids today are tougher than ever:  peer pressure, drug/alcohol abuse, divorce/remarriage/blended families.  Some face pregnancy or AIDS.  Many more are experiencing violence in the streets, at home, and in the classroom.
 
These dilemmas may be especially difficult when faced alone with no one to talk to.  For the over 1.3 million kids living on the streets, there is all too often no one to talk to.  These youths thought they could escape their problems by running away, only to encounter even more, potentially dangerous problems!
STATISTICS:        
      * 1 in 7 kids between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away.
      * Some will return within a few days, others remain on the streets never to return.
     *  1.3 million youth are on the streets each day.
     *  Assaults, illness or suicide will take the lives of 5,000 runaway youth each year.
     *  About 1/3 of the children have some type of involvement or brush with prostitution.
QUITTING PROSTITUTION IS LIKE QUITTING THE MAFIA:
Prostitution is a big business.Pimps actively seek and recruit very young girls & boys to work the sexual marketplace.  Kept penniless and watched constantly, it's virtually impossible for them to escape from pimps' mercilesss control and domination.  Master manipulaters, pimps are skillfully able to take advantage of the vulnerability of these children.  The lure of easy money, clothes, and non-stop partying can be irresistible to susceptible young children.
*Today, International Relief Organizations suggest there are 300,000 children working as prostitites in the U.S. 
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
* If you know of anyone that is a runaway or is thinking about running away, please contact one of the hotlines or give that child the hotline number.  Sometimes a child just needs someone that they can talk to!
Children Of The Night             1-800-551-1300   (Hotline)
National Runaway Switchboard          1-800-621-4000
* You can donate money towards shelter homes, food, clothing, medical supplies...  Or you can donate canned goods, jackets, shoes, toiletries, books, games... to any of the agencies below!
Children Of The Night               1-(818)908-4474   (office)   
14530 Sylvan Street, Van Nuys, CA 91411
National Runaway Switchboard                1-(773)880-9860  (office)
3080 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60657
 
Thank-you all for your time!   Peace and happiness!!!                                
 
 Kimberly Mahoney
                                                               
                    
                        
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