Voices’ Blog

Announcing the Making kids count award winners!

Posted:  -  By: Nikkia Johnson

Voices for Virginia’s Children is pleased to announce the 2015 winners of the Carol S. Fox Making Kids Count Awards. The award ceremony recognizes a Virginia individual and an organization for exemplary efforts to improve the lives of children in the Commonwealth.

This year, the selection committee has chosen two nominees in the individual category, and one organization as winners:

Elly Lafkin, of Shenandoah, has become an extraordinary advocate for safety in child care out of her own family’s tragic experience. Elly and Cameron Lafkin’s infant, Camden Lafkin, died in a family child care home in May 2012. When police investigated her death, they found that the family’s child care provider had several aliases and a history of criminal offenses. Since that time, Elly has worked tirelessly to organize other families who have experienced similar losses and speak out to elected officials. Her courageous action has resulted in meaningful changes at the national and state level to improve the safety of child care settings.

Grace and David Gallagher are changing the conversation about adolescent depression in Richmond and beyond with the Cameron K. Gallagher Foundation and its signature event, the Speak Up 5k. The Gallaghers’ teenage daughter Cameron was living with severe depression and anxiety at the time she died from an undiagnosed heart condition at the end of the Shamrock Half Marathon in March 2014. Cameron was committed to “speaking up” to reduce the stigma and fear surrounding mental illness, and her parents have continued her efforts, reaching thousands of individuals with the message Cameron was planning to spread.

Family Lifeline has worked for almost 140 years to bring health and hope into the homes of many of the most at-risk families. It is the largest provider of early childhood intensive home visiting in the greater Richmond and Petersburg region and one of the largest providers of evidence-based home-visiting services in the state. Working with families at-risk due to poverty, unemployment, or social isolation, home visitors work two generations at a time to improve economic and health outcomes for parents and children.

The 4th Annual Carol S. Fox Making Kids Count Awards Reception will take place on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 6pm at the Bolling Haxall House in Richmond. In attendance will be a host of child advocates, community leaders, Voices friends and supporters, program directors, elected officials and others who share a common purpose – improving the lives of Virginia’s children.

Thank you to AT&T for being the Title Sponsor for this event, and Dominion for being the Reception Sponsor. Other sponsorships are available. If interested, please contact Michael Brown at michael@vakids.org or call 804-649-0184 ext. 32 for more information.

For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit the event page.

Download the media release about the award winners here.

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