Center for missing kids struggles to stay afloat
By Hayley Kappes
The Daily News
Published December 2, 2010
FRIENDSWOOD — The Laura Recovery Center for Missing Children faces major cutbacks if donations continue declining.
Directors might have to close the organization by March if the economic situation doesn’t improve, co-founder Gay Smither said.
Smither and her husband, Bob, founded the center after their daughter, Laura, was abducted and killed in 1997. No one has been charged in the death.
Operating solely on donations, the center’s volunteers assist families and law enforcement in searching for about 150 missing children in the United States every year, Smither said.
“Hurricane Ike is one of the reasons we’re hurting so badly,” she said. “We had to cancel our fundraiser that year because of it. Then the economy crashed and everybody was in dire straits.”
Volunteers reunited more than 900 missing people with their families during a nine-month period, Smither said.
If donations don’t pick up, the center’s office in Friendswood would close, and services would operate on a volunteer basis out of the Smithers’ home.
The center also would lose its two paid employees, who are critical in organizing volunteers.
This is the worst economic situation the center has faced since opening 12 years ago, Smither said.
“Over the last several months we’ve watched the amount of donations decrease down to a trickle,” Executive Director Bob Walcutt said. “This is the first time the center has been in a situation where we’ve had to get donations that badly.”
The organization operates on an annual budget of $120,000, Walcutt said.
Volunteers have organized searched for teenager Alexandria Lowitzer, of Spring, who disappeared in April after getting off a school bus. The center has participated in high-profile cases, including the search for Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted in 2002 and found nine months later in Utah.
“We understand this is a difficult time for all charities,” Smither said. “Everyone is hurting, but if every family in the area gave a few dollars that would keep us going.”
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How To Help
Donations for the Laura Recovery Center for Missing Children are accepted at the organization’s website,
www.lrcf.org.
The center is located at 906 Anna Lane in Friendswood. Call 281-482-5723.
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