St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Missouri Foundation for Health, Kit Bond Strategies, Children’s Mercy Hospital – Kansas City sponsoring luncheon to wrap Child Abuse Prevention Month
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri KidsFirst will be celebrating those who advocate for children and raise awareness of child abuse and neglect at the Standing With Children Awards Luncheon at the end of April.
“We started giving out the awards because we thought it was important to recognize the important work that child advocates do,” said Joy Oesterly, Executive Director of Missouri KidsFirst. “April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, the event will help cap off the month and take a moment to recognize amazing people who have done amazing work.”
On April 30, 2018, KidsFirst will present lifetime achievement awards to Barbara Brown-Johnson, former Executive Director of The Child Advocacy Center, and Dwight K. Scroggins, Jr., Prosecuting Attorney Buchanan County. Though the fifth year of the awards, it will be the first time they are presented during a luncheon.
“[Brown-Johnson] started out as a preschool teacher when she was younger and then for the last 19 years of her career she was the director of the CAC in Springfield. She has been an incredible advocate for many, many years,” said Oesterly. “[Scroggins] has been instrumental in establishing crime victims rights in Missouri. He was the first prosecutor to have a victim advocate and was instrumental in creating the Child Advocacy Center in St. Louis — the first ACA in the state. He has been involved in the work to prevent child abuse and to protect children his entire career.”
“It’ll be a nice opportunity for folks to get together, have a good lunch, recognizing those amazing people, and help us raise a little money in the process,” said Oesterly.
St. Louis Children’s Hospital is the Platinum Sponsor of the luncheon with Missouri Foundation for Health, Kit Bond Strategies, and Children’s Mercy Hospital – Kansas City as Gold Sponsors.
The Standing With Children Awards Luncheon will be at the Millbottom Event Center. Visit Missouri KidsFirst online to purchase tickets to the event or to become a sponsor.
Missouri KidsFirst primarily leads and supports communities in abuse prevention, provides training to multi-disciplinary team members engaged in child protection, and advocates public policies that address and prevent child abuse.
Alisha Shurr was a reporter for The Missouri Times and The Missouri Times Magazine. She joined The Missouri Times in January 2018 after working as a copy editor for her hometown newspaper in Southern Oregon. Alisha is a graduate of Kansas State University.
