Date: 2004-09-29
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman from California . and I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 759. a bill that recognizes and commends the important work of the Festival of Children Foundation. The Festival of Children Foundation is an umbrella organization that helps foster collaboration between childrens charities in the areas of education. community involvement. and arts appreciation. I want to acknowledge Sandy Segerstrom Daniels. who is here with us today. for her work with respect to this festival. We in Congress need to increase the public awareness of childrens special needs and to recognize our local organizations who lead the way in providing the services in a very local way. in a very humane way. in a very loving way in our own districts. particularly through private and voluntary efforts. That is why I am a cosponsor of this bill with my friend and colleague. the gentleman from California . and why I would urge my colleagues to support and to vote for this. Through its extensive network of community organizations. the Festival of Children Foundation offers resources. such as training and workshops. operation and technical support. and planning for conferences and special events to over 100 organizations. The highlight of all these activities is the Festival of Children. a monthlong celebration of children. featuring the work of local childrens charities. Just last year. over 55 childrens organizations from Orange County. as well as a select group from Los Angeles County. gathered at the South Coast .Plaza retail center in Costa Mesa. California. for exhibits. for lectures. presentations. and lots of entertainment. The event was cosponsored by South Coast Plaza. and again I thank the Segerstrom family and Childrens Hospital of Orange County. which actually sits in my district. and featured groups such as Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. MakeaWish Foundation. Special Olympics. and the list goes on and on of all the people who participated to help our special kids in Orange County. Over one million people visited South Coast Plaza during the festival. Not only did we have the festival going on. but of course there is great shopping there too. and we are very proud of that in Orange County. But the charities really reaped the rewards of this great opportunity because they were able to market themselves to our community. I. for example. have a young adult student organization that is a task force from all the high schools in my area. and they participate in trying to get their young people to these volunteer organizations because they have time on their hands. They just need to know the information. This is a great way when we hold this at South Coast Plaza. In addition. all the programs that were presented that day were free to the public. The Orange County Board of Supervisors and the California legislature have already commended officially the Festival of Children and even recognized the month of September as Child Awareness Month. I join my colleagues here today in recognizing the Festival of Children as a model for organizing communities to provide for the needs of their children.