Preceding the AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Ready Back-to-School Safety Weekend, the Citywide Council of Presidents of the NYC Housing Authority donated $1.5 million to AMBER Ready Inc. at a recent press conference at ABC TV's Times Square studios.

On behalf of the Council, President, [City Wide Council of Presidents of the New York City Housing Authorities' Residents], Reginald H. Bowman publicly signed a letter to grant funding to AMBER Ready Inc., a new cell phone-based child protection and recovery service. The monies are slated to ensure that at least 30,000 families residing in public housing complexes receive subscriptions to the program.

"The phenomenon of 800,000 children reported missing yearly in this country is alarming," declared Bowman, who became teary eyed throughout the conference, "I get emotional when we talk about children. In order to secure any community and invest in the future of a city, state and nation, we must invest in new ways of protecting our most important resource: our children.

"By using AMBER Ready, we are creating a direct line to law enforcement that will allow us to deter abductions and become a model AMBER Ready community," said Bowman.

The primary function of the press conference was to raise awareness regarding the program and allow distraught families from across the nation a chance to inform the public about their missing loved ones.

"I thought I had to wait 24 hours to report her missing," said Lucita Petro-Nixon, mother of Chanel Petro-Nixon, a 16-year-old Brooklyn teen who disappeared three years ago and was found days later curbside in a garbage bag. The young girl had been strangled to death only a few blocks away from her home.

Her mother told a hushed crowd, "Working together, we can do something about this. Time is precious."

AMBER Ready President Kai Patterson, a former NASA engineer who invented the AMBER Ready program in response to the disappearance of his secretary's son six years ago, and Senior VP Frank Del Vecchio, who currently serves as a deputy police chief in Bergen County, N.J., provided insight on shocking abduction statistics and information on the sinister rational behind child abductions.

"A colossal problem in human trafficking is at its peak now, with a high demand in organs," stated Patterson. "Children are prime targets, since they are free from impurities adults attain from aging and unhealthy lifestyles. Children are also abducted to be sold into forced labor and prostitution."

The AMBER Ready system may be instrumental in reducing the estimated 800,000 annual child abductions and disappearances in the nation, according to the Department of Justice.

"This is not a simple epidemic; it's happening all over the world," stated Del Vecchio. "What better place to address a global epidemic than right here in Times Square, the crossroads of the world? Predators are lurking, and today, it's time that we take a stand."

Nearly 180,000 families reside in public housing facilities. Each subscription offers protection for all the children within the household. For the remaining of the population who cannot afford the $50 activation fee, which offers coverage for two hours, AMBER Ready has partnered with cell phone service providers to offer free coverage for two years upon renewal of a service plan or contract.

"Let's work with AMBER Ready and be ready when it happens," stated Petro-Nixon.

Parents can visit www.amber-ready.com or call (866) 60-AMBER for more information or to subscribe to the program.