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Press
Release
WAL-MART HOSTS CHILD SAFETY EDUCATION EVENT NATIONWIDE
- Free Child ID Kits Available at Stores on September 3 -
BENTONVILLE, Ark., August 23, 2005—Child safety
and wellness are topics parents and guardians take very seriously. Recognizing
the need for child safety education, Wal-Mart and the National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) will partner with Abbott’s
Ross Products Division to host the first-ever Smart Parent…Safe
Baby event on Sat., Sept. 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Wal-Mart stores
nationwide. On that day, parents and guardians will receive a free child
ID kit. The kit includes leading DNA technology which requires no special
storage and will keep for up to 14 years, safety information for parents
and guardians, and a placeholder for an updated child photo.
During the Smart Parent…Safe Baby event, parents and guardians
will also receive a resource book with safety tips from NCMEC and baby
wellness facts from partners such as Similac® Advance®, Pedialyte®,
PediaSure®, and Ensure Healthy MomTM.
“We are excited about the opportunity to partner with Wal-Mart
and Ross Products to educate parents and guardians about child safety
and wellness,” said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC. “Being
prepared and discussing prevention tips with children are the keys to
keeping kids safer.”
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children provides the
following tips to help parents and guardians practice good safety measures:
• Keep an accessible, up-to-date, good quality photograph of your
child in case of an emergency.
• Never let young children go places alone. Be clear about the places
and homes they can visit.
• Know where your children are and whom they are with at all times.
• Never leave children unattended in an automobile, whether it’s
running or not.
• Talk openly to your children about safety. Make an outing to a
mall or park a “teachable” moment.
"We take pride in partnering with parents every day to help infants
and toddlers thrive,” said Gary E. McCullough, President, Ross Products
Division, Abbott. “We welcome this opportunity to provide helpful
education about safety and wellness for young children and to give parents
greater peace of mind through our support for the Smart Parent…Safe
Baby event."
Wal-Mart encourages parents and guardians to take advantage of this in-store
event and receive helpful child safety information and a free child ID
kit, while supplies last on this day. A number of partners have joined
together to sponsor the Smart Parent…Safe Baby event, including
Abbott, whose brands include Similac Advance, PediaSure, Pedialyte, and
Ensure Healthy Mom. Other vendor partners include Fisher Price, Procter
& Gamble, Nestle, General Mills, and Wal-Mart Portrait Studios. To
learn more about the Smart Parent…Safe Baby event, visit baby connection
at walmart.com after August 15, 2005. For further safety information,
visit NCMEC at www.missingkids.com or call 1-800-THE-LOST.
About Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart has been a partner with the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children since 1996, upon the introduction of Code Adam, a safety
alert and associate training program in all Wal-Mart and SAM’S CLUB
stores. Today, Code Adam is used in more than 45,000 locations nationwide.
Wal-Mart also assists the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children through its Missing Children Poster Boards, located at the front
entrance of its stores, and through Road Watch, a missing child alert
system used by all Wal-Mart trucks across the country. The programs are
a part of the Wal-Mart and SAM’S CLUB Foundation (www.walmartfoundation.org).
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood
Markets and SAM'S CLUB locations in the United States. Internationally,
the company operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Japan,
Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The company's
securities are listed on the New York and Pacific stock exchanges under
the symbol WMT. See www.walmartfacts.com for more information. Online
merchandise sales are available at www.walmart.com.
About the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children
NCMEC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works in cooperation
with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention. NCMEC's congressionally mandated CyberTipline, a reporting
mechanism for child sexual exploitation, has handled more than 313,000
leads. Since its establishment in 1984, NCMEC has assisted law enforcement
with more than 106,000 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery
of more than 92,000 children. For more information about NCMEC, call its
toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit www.missingkids.com.
About Abbott
Abbott’s Ross Products Division is a longtime leader in the U.S.
nutritional marketplace, well known for its leading Similac® Advance®
and Isomil® Advance® infant formulas, Pedialyte® and PediaSure®
Brands, as well as its entire line of other pediatric nutritional products.
Abbott pioneered the market for adult nutritionals more than three decades
ago, and today, the Healthy Living family of nutrition brands includes
Ensure®, Glucerna®, ZonePerfect® and EAS®. For more information
about Abbott's Ross Products Division, visit www.Ross.com.
Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery,
development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical
products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company
employs more than 60,000 people and markets its products in more than
130 countries.
Abbott's news releases and other information are available on the company's
Web site at www.abbott.com.
CONTACT:
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Communications Department
703-837-6111
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Jacquie Young /Melissa O’Brien
479-273-4314
Abbott’s Ross Products Division
Keri Butler
614-624-7543
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