Press Releases
PROKIDS RUN FOR KIDS TO HELP RAISE MONEY AND AWARENESS FOR PLIGHT OF FOSTER CHILDREN
CINCINNATI, OH, June 13, 2007—The 11th Annual Run for Kids benefiting Cincinnati non-profit ProKids was held on Friday June 8, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in Hyde Park. The event was sponsored by the Cincinnati Bar Association-Young Lawyers Section and National City Bank. Proceeds from the 5K run and celebratory party that followed totaled approximately $15,000.
The Run for Kids is one of ProKids’ largest fundraising events. In May, the organization also hosted the 4th Annual Friends of Children Breakfast at Xavier University’s Cintas Center, raising $320,000 from the 500 people in attendance. Both the breakfast and the run are free events designed to provide education about the plight of children suffering within the foster care system and to demonstrate how ProKids is offering a solution by providing Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs).
Tracy Cook, Executive Director of ProKids, said, “The generosity of the community demonstrated through events like the Run for Kids and the Friends of Children Breakfast is so appreciated, but even one child without a CASA is one too many. We still have much work to do to protect our city’s most vulnerable children.”
For 25 years, ProKids has been speaking up for a group of children few people know much about: children who have been abused or neglected so severely they have been removed from their families and placed in the child protection system. These children typically live in temporary foster homes. ProKids Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteers establish a relationship with the child, investigate their living situation and challenge the system to provide for child’s best interests. Most important, CASAs work to help find a safe, permanent and nurturing home for every child. In 2005, abuse stopped for 99% of children with a ProKids CASA.