Lebanon Daily News
A state lawmaker will receive the first Children’s Hero Award established last year by the Sexual Assault Resource Counseling Center of Lebanon County to recognize an individual or group that works to protect children from sexual abuse.
Rep. Mauree Gingrich, Republican representing the 101st District, will receive the award at the agency’s 30th anniversary dinner Thursday, April 18, at the Lebanon Country Club.
House Bill 19 would require the state Department of Education to create age-appropriate guidelines on child exploitation and sexual abuse, which each school district would incorporate into its curriculum for students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
The bill was lauded by the Task Force on Child Abuse in its recent report to the General Assembly as “equally important, if not greater” than other measures in the protection of children, according to a news release from SARCC.
Gingrich sponsored the bill in the last legislative session in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State. It passed the House by a vote of 177 to 18 in February and is now waiting for consideration by the Senate.
SARCC’s annual dinner begins at 6 p.m. The guest speaker will be former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Al Chesley, who will talk about the sexual abuse he suffered as a 13-year-old at the hands of a District of Columbia police officer. Tickets for the event are $35 and can be purchased by calling SARCC at 717-270-6972, extension 350.
SARCC is the sole provider of sexual assault services in Lebanon and Schuylkill counties, serving more than 900 men, women and children who have been victimized by sexual violence.
Read more: http://www.ldnews.com/latestnews/ci_22976812/lebanon-county-rep-mauree-gingrich-receive-childrens-hero