PRESS RELEASE
Voices to Present Individual Child Advocacy Award to Johanna Schuchert, Executive Director of Prevent Child Abuse Virginia (PCAV), and Organization Award to United Methodist Family Services (UMFS)
Voices for Virginia’s Children is proud and honored to announce the inaugural winners of our newly created Carol S. Fox “Making Kids Count” Award, a child advocacy award to be given annually to an individual or organization that best exemplifies the selfless leadership and devotion that Voices’ founding board member Carol Fox demonstrated through her efforts to better the lives of Virginia’s children.
With the rich community of child advocates hard at work in the Commonwealth, it’s no surprise that Voices received many exceptional nominations for these awards, any of whom we would have been honored to name as winners. As such, this inaugural year, Voices named an individual and an organization as recipients:
Our individual Making Kids Count award winner is Johanna Schuchert, Executive Director of Prevent Child Abuse Virginia (PCAV) and Acting Director of Healthy Families Virginia (HVA). Whether advocating for children at the General Assembly, staffing the statewide 1-800-CHILDREN help line, organizing and presenting at conferences and seminars, or creating the policies and programs that directly serve children and families, Johanna has dedicated her career to championing policies and programs that help keep Virginia’s children safe and healthy.
Our organizational Making Kids Count award winner is United Methodist Family Services, a statewide non-profit that has long-served Virginia by providing a wide array of services that support and empower vulnerable and special needs youth and families in their communities, with the aim of ensuring that youth maintain permanent connections that help further their opportunities for success in life. UMFS’ impact in the Commonwealth is demonstrated in large part through their breadth of services and programs, including support to youth through foster care and adoption services, intensive treatment, school-based services, programs for children aging out of foster care, mentoring and family stabilization services.
Carol S. Fox is a founding board member of Voices for Virginia’s Children who dedicated her time and energy to furthering causes that improved the lives of children throughout Virginia. She inspired Voices and our efforts for 17 years on our board of directors, while also supporting numerous other causes, including as the board chair of United Way of Greater Richmond and president of the board of William Byrd Community House.
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These awards will be presented to recipients at a gala reception to be held at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden on Oct. 23, 2012, from 6-8 p.m. Individual tickets are available at $65, and sponsorship opportunities are filling up quickly, but still available, as well. Please visit www.carolfoxaward.vakids.org, or contact Cathy McCallister at [email protected] for more information.
