Melville, NY—Canon USA, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the New York Yankees teamed up for the 12th annual Canon Promotional Night at Yankee Stadium on June 9 to raise awareness about the importance of child safety.
During a pregame ceremony, Joe Warren, executive vice president and general manager, Corporate Human Resources, Canon USA, Inc., presented to John Walsh, cofounder of NCMEC, a check in the amount of $456,566. That sum represents the cumulative amount of money raised and donated and the approximate retail value of product donated by Canon USA to NCMEC in 2015. To celebrate the joint efforts made to help keep children safe, the first 18,000 fans that entered the stadium received a Canon and Yankees co-branded baseball cap.
“A picture is the most powerful tool that law enforcement has in the search for a missing child, and thanks to Canon’s efforts to raise awareness, families all across the country are more knowledgeable and better prepared to take action if their children were to be missing,” said Linda Krieg, acting CEO, NCMEC. “We are grateful to Canon for their partnership and longstanding commitment to child safety.”
“Our partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has helped educate the public about the issue of missing children and child victimization,” added Kotaro Fukushima, senior director and general manager, Corporate Communications, Canon USA. “Through the support of the New York Yankees, we are able to reinforce how digital photographs can quickly and effectively locate missing children. We are honored to celebrate our successes together in helping to keep our children safe.”
For more than 15 years, Canon and NCMEC have worked together to raise awareness about the issue of missing and exploited children through the Canon4Kids program. As part of that program, Canon has donated more than 2,200 pieces of equipment, including digital cameras, fax machines, printers and scanners, which have been distributed to law enforcement agencies in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Guam. The program educates parents and guardians about how a current digital photograph is one of the most important tools to help locate a missing child. usa.canon.com
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 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. 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 208,500 children. NCMEC also operates the CyberTipline, a mechanism for reporting child pornography, child sex trafficking and other forms of child sexual exploitation. missingkids.com
