Google's Eric Schmidt, Humanitarian Cindy McCain And Abduction Survivor Carlina White To Be Honored At National Center For Missing & Exploited Children's HOPE Awards

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, May 5, at the 13^th annual Hope Awards, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children will recognize the courage of survivors and the contributions of individuals in the fight to protect children from victimization. The awards are presented each May in honor of National Missing Children's Day.

Honorees Include:

Cindy Hensley McCain
Cindy Hensley McCain has dedicated her life to improving the lives of those less fortunate both in the United States and around the world, tackling numerous humanitarian issues.   Her work on the issue of human trafficking through the Arizona Governor's Council on human trafficking and the McCain Institute's Human Trafficking Advisory Council have brought much needed awareness to this issue and helped build partnerships that are finding solutions. McCain's husband, U.S. Sen. John McCain, will also be in attendance.

Eric Schmidt
Eric Schmidt has been with Google since 2001, serving as executive chairman since 2011. He helped grow the company into the global leader in technology it is today.  He is responsible for the external matters of Google: building partnerships and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership.  Under his direction, Google has become an industry leader in the fight against child sexual exploitation, offering support to the organizations engaged in this effort and finding new ways to apply technology to the problem.

Carlina White
Carlina White was 19 days old when she was abducted from a Harlem hospital in 1987. Raised by her abductor as Nejdra "Netty" Nance, she became suspicious about her identity when her mother could not provide a birth certificate. She eventually came to NCMEC's website seeking answers and found a baby picture on a missing poster that she thought bore a striking resemblance to her own daughter. After calling NCMEC, a DNA test in January of 2011 confirmed that she was the abducted infant, allowing her to start the journey to establish a relationship with her biological parents.  She has become a passionate advocate for missing children's issues, presenting her story for the first time this year at the Dallas Crimes Against Children Conference.      

Media will have access to the award presentations of ALL honorees and program participants during the dinner, but only some honorees will be available for media interviews.  Interviews with participating honorees and special guests will take place in a media availability prior to the event, starting at 5:30 p.m. Participants in this media availability include:

• Cindy McCain
• Carlina White
• Alicia Kozakiewicz
• Katie Beers
• Soledad O'Brien
• Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan
• Linda Krieg, NCMEC acting CEO and former NCMEC COO
• Patty Wetterling, Chair of the Board of NCMEC and mother of Jacob Wetterling, who was abducted at the age of 11 in 1989 and is still missing.

Interviews with Cleveland abduction survivors, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus are limited and must be scheduled in advance. Interested media must RSVP to schedule this interview.

When: Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Media Availability:  5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Award Presentations: 7 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Where: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 1150 22^nd St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20037

All media who plan to attend must RSVP to [email protected] or call 703-837-6111.

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is the leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working with law enforcement, families and the professionals who serve them on issues relating to missing and sexually exploited children. Established in 1984 and authorized by Congress to serve as the nation's clearinghouse on these issues, NCMEC operates a hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678), and has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 205,550 children. NCMEC also operates the CyberTipline, a mechanism for reporting child pornography, child sex trafficking and other forms of child sexual exploitation. Since it was created in 1998, more than 4.5 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation have been received, and more than 141  million suspected child pornography images have been reviewed. NCMEC works in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To learn more about NCMEC, visit www.missingkids.com. Follow NCMEC on Twitter and like NCMEC on Facebook.

SOURCE The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Related Links

http://www.missingkids.com