May 22, 2008 will commemorate the 25th Annual National Missing Children’s Day being held this year at the Citadel Outlets in the City of Commerce.

National Missing Children’s Day was established in 1983 by Ronald Reagan after a series of high-profile missing-children cases became national headlines. Stirring shock to the nation’s consciousness, these cases brought mass attention to the seriousness of child victimization and forever changed the response by law-enforcement agencies to reports of missing children. This annual reminder to the nation is to renew efforts to reunite missing children with their families and make child protection a national priority.

To support this national cause, the Citadel Outlets have collaborated with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children this year to display the faces of more than 100 missing children from the state of California on eight massive high-definition LED billboard signs. These signs will be visible for a ¼ of a mile along Interstate 5.

The LED (Light Emitting Diodes) billboards will display the message Have You Seen This Child? 1-800-THE-LOST. Seen by over 150,000 local freeway commuters every day, the LED signs span 1,700 square feet of linear frontage. The 24 ft. by 31 ft. high LED billboards have a high definition outdoor display quality. The goal of these billboards is to galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and the safe recovery of a child.

Of the approximate 262,000 children abduction each year in America, 78% are abducted by their own family members. Michael S. Smith, a Walnut Creek, California father whose children were abducted eleven years ago will be in attendance supporting the cause. During a difficult custody battle, Michael’s ex-wife Elizabeth Ann Stratton abducted their children Zachary now 17 and Chelsea now 14 back in December of 1997. "For every case of abduction by a stranger, there are over 1,900 cases like mine".

Other notable attendants of the event will be Jon Adler, National Executive V.P. of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, Deputy Gary Missakian of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Ju’Riese Colon, Director of External Affairs for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Marketing Director for Citadel Outlets, Jess Irwin.

This will be an all day event starting at 5:00 AM extending all the way to 11:00 PM. Michael Smith will be available for interviews from 5:00 AM to 12 Noon. Media Contact is Sheryl Craig or Donald Wilson at 310-899-2900.

Please mark this day in your calendar and take a drive along the 5 to view these missing children’s faces.  National Missing Children’s Day is a reminder to all parents and guardians of the need for high-quality photographs of their children for use in case of an emergency, and the need for everyone to pay close attention to the posters and photographs of missing children.