Commending the Festival of Children Foundation for its outstanding efforts on behalf of children.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much for the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support for my own bill, H. Res. 759 commending the Festival of Children. Millions of good-hearted American volunteers donate their time, their talent and their personal treasure to help lost and needy children, but no matter how noble the cause, these wonderful charities and their volunteers must struggle just to let the community know

what is available to those who are in need. Clearly, children's charities struggle to find private sources of money to sustain their benevolent programs.

Mr. Speaker, in Orange County, California, we are trying to do our best to do the best. Our needy children are put in this spotlight by a month-long event dedicated to assist organizations that are working with deprived and neglected children.

The Festival of Children Foundation hosts the activities of Child Awareness Month at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, which is part of my district.

South Coast Plaza is a premier commercial and shopping location; yet with generosity and kindness, this center also becomes a center of love and caring for children.

There, among the upper crust and upper level stores and shops, you will find new ways during this month of helping children and helping those organizations that are designed to help children. Each year, during the month of September, scores of charities, like the Make-a- Wish Foundation and the Blind Children's Learning Center, are given tremendous support to come together under one roof, and not just one roof but under the roof of one of California's most visited shopping centers, to reach out to tens of thousands of families and then make a difference in the lives of multitudes of children.

Too often in our communities many families have not even been aware that certain charities exist; and at the same time, there are many who are willing to volunteer their energy and their resources to help these charities, yet they do not know these charities even exist. In the meantime, we see there are charities that spend much of their scarce resources that should be going directly to the children to overcome this gulf that separates them from both the donors and the needy.

Well, I take this problem very seriously, and I take caring for the children very seriously. I always have, but that has been brought home to me in a very special way, because yesterday marked the 5-month anniversary of the birth of my three children, my triplets, Amika, Christian, and Trestin. These are lovely little babies, but it certainly has impressed upon me that we need to care for all the babies. We need to make sure that all the children of this world can reach their potential and have a happy life.

And so I applaud those individuals who are engaged in this noble, noble effort. I especially applaud the individual initiative of Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, the founder of the Festival of Children. She took the initiative to form a private nonprofit organization bringing all of Orange County's children's charities together. She enlisted nationally known celebrities, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olivia Newton-John and Pat Riley, and others to boost the participation in the children's charities at the Festival of Children.

The effort has paid off. Hundreds of charities and thousands of families now look forward to the month of September when they can gather at the Festival of Children, there at the South Coast Plaza. I am pleased to see this example of a private initiative for a public charity is catching on and that the Festival of Children is expending into other States.

So with this pride in the accomplishment and the benevolence and the good hearts of some of my constituents, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating the Festival of Children.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey), and I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 759, a bill that recognizes and commends the important work of the Festival of Children Foundation.

The Festival of Children Foundation is an umbrella organization that helps foster collaboration between children's charities in the areas of education, community involvement, and arts appreciation. I want to acknowledge Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, who is here with us today, for her work with respect to this festival.

We in Congress need to increase the public awareness of children's special needs and to recognize our local organizations who lead the way in providing the services in a very local way, in a very humane way, in a very loving way in our own districts, particularly through private and voluntary efforts. That is why I am a cosponsor of this bill with my friend and colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), and why I would urge my colleagues to support and to vote for this.

Through its extensive network of community organizations, the Festival of Children Foundation offers resources, such as training and workshops, operation and technical support, and planning for conferences and special events to over 100 organizations. The highlight of all these activities is the Festival of Children, a month-long celebration of children, featuring the work of local children's charities.

Just last year, over 55 children's organizations from Orange County, as well as a select group from Los Angeles County, gathered at the South Coast Plaza retail center in Costa Mesa, California, for exhibits, for lectures, presentations, and lots of entertainment. The event was cosponsored by South Coast Plaza, and again I thank the Segerstrom family and Children's Hospital of Orange County, which actually sits in my district, and featured groups such as Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Make-a-Wish Foundation, Special Olympics, and the list goes on and on of all the people who participated to help our special kids in Orange County.

Over one million people visited South Coast Plaza during the festival. Not only did we have the festival going on, but of course there is great shopping there too; and we are very proud of that in Orange County. But the charities really reaped the rewards of this great opportunity because they were able to market themselves to our community. I, for example, have a young adult student organization that is a task force from all the high schools in my area, and they participate in trying to get their young people to these volunteer organizations because they have time on their hands. They just need to know the information. This is a great way when we hold this at South Coast Plaza.

In addition, all the programs that were presented that day were free to the public. The Orange County Board of Supervisors and the California legislature have already commended officially the Festival of Children and even recognized the month of September as Child Awareness Month.

I join my colleagues here today in recognizing the Festival of Children as a model for organizing communities to provide for the needs of their children.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 759) commending the Festival of Children Foundation for its outstanding efforts on behalf of children and expressing the support of the House of Representatives for the designation of a ``Child Awareness Month,'' as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 759.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 759 offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher). This resolution honors the Festival of Children Foundation for its outstanding efforts on behalf of children.

Children represent the Nation's future, and numerous individuals and organizations across the United States devote precious time, energy and resources to enrich that future by helping children advance their hopes and dreams and to realize their aspirations.

The Festival of Children Foundation is one such organization that has experienced overwhelming success serving the needs of children in the Orange County community. Through collaboration with numerous charities, the foundation seeks to improve the lives of children and families living in the community by fostering education, community involvement and the arts. Instead of operating independently, charities are able to pool both their resources and ideas to better serve the children and families of southern California.

The Festival of Children Foundation expands the reach of the nonprofits in their community, and their efforts on behalf of children should be emulated. I would like to take this opportunity to commend their work on behalf of children and also their efforts to increase awareness of children's special needs.

I thank my colleague from California for introducing this resolution and urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, Walt Disney once said that ``Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.'' Today we honor the Festival of Children Foundation, an organization with the specific purpose to improve the lives of children and families throughout Orange County, California by fostering education, community involvement, and the arts by collaborating with local children's charities.

Through their hard work and efforts, the Festival of Children Foundation has been able to showcase the work of non-profit groups as a way to increase exposure and sustain volunteer, leadership and financial support for these groups. The Foundation, being an umbrella organization, has made it possible to serve as a free recourse to these groups by encouraging collaborative efforts to serve the community as well as a place for groups to share ideas and lessons on community mobilization, planning and overall best practices. In the last two years, over 100 non-profit groups in southern California have benefited enormously from the exposure, partnership and assistance from the Festival of Children Foundation.

As another way to truly reach out and assist children, the Festival of Children Foundation had declared September 2004 as a month to ``Celebrate the Magic of Childhood,'' working with 52 agencies and organizations to serve the children of southern California with high profile exhibits to continue with the Foundation's mission.

I would like to congratulate the Foundation on their excellent work and assisting to strengthen their community--most importantly, their efforts to benefit the lives of children.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this Resolution and to recognize the Festival of Children Foundation for its valuable service to the Orange County and Southern California communities.

As my colleagues said, the Foundation is an umbrella group with the specific purpose to improve the lives of children and families. Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, the founder, has had the vision and commitment to create the Festival and the ability to bring together people and organizations devoted to children's issues.

Groups involved in the fields of health, education and the arts all collaborate in the Festival. Lectures, exhibits and information booths at South Coast Plaza take place for the entire month of September. I credit the Festival for increasing public awareness of children's issues and for providing opportunities for the public and non-profit organizations to donate their time and resources. I am told that over two million visitors have seen the Festival's exhibits in the past.

Because of the success of the Festival, the California State Assembly and the Orange County Board of Supervisors have taken official actions commending the Festival. I believe it is now fitting and timely for the U.S. Congress to also recognize the Festival of Children by this Resolution.

I encourage all my colleagues to support the Resolution and thank my colleague Dana Rohrabacher for presenting the Resolution.