ANDREAWALKS ANNOUNCES FUNDRAISING TOTAL

Nashville – First Lady Andrea Conte today announced a $1,390,000 final fundraising total of cash and in-kind donations for "Andrea Walks for Tennessee’s Children," her walk across the state to raise awareness of child abuse and to support the non-for-profit Child Advocacy Centers that serve children.

At a celebration luncheon in Nashville, Conte made ceremonial check presentations to the directors of Tennessee’s 27 Child Advocacy Centers, nonprofit facilities that help children who have experienced sexual or severe physical abuse. Conte launched her ‘AndreaWalks’ trek in September 2004, walking more than 600 miles from Memphis to Bristol to raise support and badly needed funding for these community-based facilities, as well as for the Tennessee Chapter of Child Advocacy Centers and for You Have the Power…Know How to Use It, a nonprofit victims rights group that conducts programs to raise awareness of crime and justice issues.

"The support that Tennesseans everywhere have shown for ‘AndreaWalks’ has made this Walk a life-changing experience for me," Conte said. "From the businesses who supported us, to the neighbors who came to walk or cheer us on, to the inmates who handcrafted toys for our Child Advocacy Centers, to the students who emptied their pockets of change to help their friends... Tennesseans from every background and region really united in a commitment to caring for our children."

Money raised from “AndreaWalks” will be used to fund public programs, to purchase needed educational materials, to provide counseling for children who have been victimized and for other costs related to providing services to child abuse victims.

"The heart that Andrea Conte put into this Walk – and the heart that she inspired other Tennesseans to show – helped bring some major successes for our children," said Bonnie Beneke, director of the Tennessee Chapter of Child Advocacy Centers. “First, our existing Child Advocacy Centers have received some greatly needed funding to continue helping children and their families heal from the trauma of abuse. Second, ‘AndreaWalks’ brought awareness to Tennessee communities that still need a Child Advocacy Center. Since the launch of ‘AndreaWalks,’ we have celebrated the opening of four new Centers, which means that more children can now receive the care they need in their own communities.”

Conte walked an average of 13 miles a day over six months on a route across the state to visit each of Tennessee’s 27 Child Advocacy Centers. Nearly 3,000 Tennesseans joined her as she made her way through 30 counties, visiting children at 100 schools and childcare facilities before making her final ‘AndreaWalks’ victory lap around the Bristol Motor Speedway.

For more information about ‘AndreaWalks,’ visit www.AndreaWalks.com.

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