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Appetite For Advocacy

Prior Year's Events

The 4th Annual Appetite for Advocacy Luncheon, held on April 14, 2011, was a huge success for DCAC! We welcomed special guest speaker Drew Brees, quarterback for the Super Bowl XLIV Championship team, the New Orleans Saints and recipient of the 2011 Bart Starr Award.

About the Keynote Speaker:

Drew Brees is an accomplished professional football player and current quarterback for the Super Bowl XLIV Champion team, the New Orleans Saints. A Texas native, Brees has won multiple awards for his athletic and academic success and is acknowledged to be one of the greatest philanthropists in the professional football community. He was recently chosen by his NFL peers to be the recipient of the 2011 Bart Starr Award. The award honors one NFL player for his outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field, and in the community. Drew and his wife, Brittany, established the Brees Dream Foundation in 2003 and since then have committed over $6 million to advance research and care for cancer patients and to provide opportunities for children by rebuilding schools, parks, playgrounds and athletic fields.

Congratulations to our 2011 Award Recipients!

Each year, the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center is proud to recognize those who have made a significant impact on the lives of abused children in our community. During the annual Appetite for Advocacy Luncheon, DCAC presents the Ruth Sharp Altshuler Award to a dedicated member of the community and the Lt. Bill Walsh Award to an outstanding professional in the field of child abuse.

Ruth Sharp Altshuler Award: Jan and Trevor Rees Jones

Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones are life-long residents of the Dallas area, Jan having grown up in Richardson and Trevor in University Park. Jan is a graduate of Texas Tech University and Trevor of Dartmouth College and subsequently, the SMU Law School. Jan and Trevor have been married for 23 years. They have two sons, both of whom attend TCU.

Jan and Trevor are the founders of The Rees-Jones Foundation, a private foundation established in 2006 to help improve in tangible ways the quality of life and life circumstances of the people it serves, with special emphasis on assisting underserved children and their families. Of special interest are programs designed to serve abused and neglected children. Jan and Trevor are supporting the DCAC Capital Campaign out of their belief that the community has an obligation to serve children who cannot defend themselves. They also want to provide the investigators, therapists, law enforcement officers and attorneys housed at DCAC with the resources they need through the expansion of the Center. DCAC has a long history of treating abused children and bringing their offenders to justice. Through their gift, Jan and Trevor are pleased to play a role in expanding the reach of these crucial services.

Lt. Bill Walsh Award: Sergeant James Sears

Sergeant Sears has been a police officer for over 26 years. He has specialized in child abuse investigations for the last 15 years and is currently supervising the Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Units of the Irving Police Department. Sears is the Front Line Supervisor of Police Operations out of the Irving Family Advocacy Center. He serves on the curriculum development team for Shaken Baby Alliance and is a Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education instructor specializing in domestic violence and child abuse. Sgt. Sears is also an instructor at the Crimes Against Children’s Conference in Dallas, and is a Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA)/Training and Research Institute for Professional Law Enforcement (TRIPLE)-certified trainer in Advanced Techniques in Child Abuse Investigations.

2010 Appetite for Advocacy

Thank you for your support at our 3rd Annual Appetite for Advocacy Luncheon, held on April 23, 2010 at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel! Approximately 700 Dallas area community members joined to help DCAC and listened to a great speech by Jenna Hager Bush.

Jenna Bush Hager

A fresh voice with a positive message, Jenna Bush Hager shows how lives can be changed when provided with compassion, community support and educational opportunities.

Jenna Hager has seen first-hand how small change can make a large difference in a single life. Currently the chair of UNICEF’s Next Generation, an initiative dedicated to reducing the number of preventable childhood deaths around the world, Hager traveled throughout Latin America and the Caribbean with UNICEF where she saw first-hand the plight faced by the underprivileged.

As she listened to the stories of those struggling through severe hardship, she met a young woman named Ana. Ana was a 17-year-old single mother with HIV who suffered through years of abuse and neglect. Moved by Ana’s own courage, resilience and determination, Hager was inspired to write Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope. In a presentation based on her New York Times best-selling book, Hager puts a human face on the startling conditions that afflict millions of youth around the world. Hager shares Ana’s meaningful life story to motivate people to triumph over adversity and become involved in caring for and supporting those members of society that need help.

A devoted humanitarian, Jenna Bush Hager calls audiences to action and shows they too can make a difference. Hager demonstrates the many positive contributions that people can have to impact their families, schools and communities. Hager's message of compassion for supporting those in need inspires audiences to help the disadvantaged and take a more active role in their community.

A contributing correspondent for NBC’s Today, Hager shares positive, uplifting messages of regular people doing extraordinary things. Passionate about literacy, education and improving inner-city schools, Hager is herself a teacher in Baltimore, MD. In addition to Ana’s Story, she also co-wrote Read All About It with her mother, former First Lady Laura Bush.

2009 Appetite for Advocacy was a tremendous success!
Event pictures available, click here!

Five hundred community members gathered at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel to support the work of the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center. Starlene Stringer, radio personality from KLTY, opened up the event with a welcome. Reverand Xolani Kocela from First Unitarian Church of Dallas provided a moving invocation. Mr. Lynn M. Davis, President and CEO of DCAC, provided the audience with an update on the numbers of children served by DCAC and the ongoing need for community support.

The Ruth Sharp Altshuler Award was presented to Caren Prothro, and the Bill Walsh Award was presented to Dr. Matthew Cox, Children's Medical Center. Mrs. Altshuler and Lt. Walsh (Retired) were honored to present these awards intended to recognize a community leader and professional who have gone "above and beyond" the call of duty to help support abused children in our community. Bios below.

Appetite for Advocacy Co-Chair, Gary Moor, provided a Board Member's perspective of the work done by DCAC and encouraged attendees to become further involved through contributing, volunteering or joining the Coalition to End Crimes Against Children.

Marilyn Van Derbur gave a powerful and moving keynote presentation, bringing the audience to a stunned silence as she recounted her prior trauma at the hands of her millionaire father as well as her lifelong recovery process. For more information about Mrs. Van Derbur and/or to purchase her book, Miss America by Day, please visit her website at www.marilynvanderbur.com

Many thanks to those who supported the luncheon. Click here for a list of Underwriters and Table Hosts.

Many luncheon attendees have expressed a desire to become linked with resources to help them through their own healing process. Click here for a list of available resources for adults survivors of child abuse.

Congratulations to our 2009 Award Recipients!

Each year, the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center is proud to recognize those who have made a significant impact on the lives of abused children in our community. During the annual Appetite for Advocacy Luncheon, DCAC will present the Ruth Sharp Altshuler Award to a dedicated member of the community and the Lt. Bill Walsh Award to an outstanding professional in the field of child abuse.

Ruth Sharp Altshuler Award: Mrs. Caren H. Prothro

Mrs. Caren Prothro is a resident of Dallas, Texas, where she is a noted civic leader in the arts, higher education and other community services. Mrs. Prothro is a founding member of the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center Board of Trustees and long-time supporter of DCAC's work in the community for child abuse victims. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Dallas Museum of Art, the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, and Southern Methodist University. Mrs. Prothro has been the recipient of many community awards, including The Annette G. Strauss Humanitarian Award, the Governor's Volunteer Service Award, and the Juvenile Justice Community Advocacy Award. She also has served on many boards, including J.P. Morgan-Chase Bank of Texas, Dallas County Youth Services, the YMCA, Junior League of Dallas, and the Commission on Children & Youth.

The Dallas Children's Advocacy Center is proud to present Mrs. Caren Prothro with the Ruth Sharp Altshuler Award for her commitment to protecting the children of Dallas County. Through her on-going involvement with the Advocacy Center, she ensures that child abuse victims in Dallas County have a place to find hope and healing.

Lt. Bill Walsh Award: Dr. Matthew Cox

Dr. Matthew J. Cox joined the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 2004 and serves as the Medical Director of the REACH program (Referral and Evaluation of At-Risk Children) at Children's Medical Center Dallas. In addition to his clinical work at Children's he is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine. He is board certified in pediatrics and is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Cox was raised in Texas and earned his bachelors degree at Texas A&M University and his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He completed his pediatric internship and residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville where he also served as chief resident from 2001-2002. Dr. Cox pursued subspecialty training in the area of child abuse and neglect by completing a fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. He has authored several publications on the concerns of child maltreatment.

Under Dr. Cox direction, the REACH Program at Children's is dedicated exclusively to caring for suspected victims of child abuse and the complex social issues surrounding the abused. A multidisciplinary team of professionals provide quality medical care and supportive services that include social work, translation and advocacy, and child life. The REACH program fosters vital links to community resources such as Dallas Children's Advocacy Center, Dallas Police Department, Child Protective Services, and the District Attorney's Office.

In 2007, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission appointed Dr. Cox as a member of the Committee on Pediatric Centers of Excellence Relating to Abuse and Neglect. The committee was designed to improve and standardize the medial services provided to abuse and neglected children in Texas.

Dr. Cox has been recognized for his excellence in teaching. He is chief clinical instructor for the Child Abuse Fellowship training program and supervises clinical rotations for pediatric residents and third year medical students.

About the Speaker:

Marilyn Van Derbur, a former Miss America, tells the powerful story of how she was sexually violated by her prominent, millionaire father from age 5 to age 18. She was 53 years old before she was able to speak about the abuse publicly. In her book, Miss America by Day, Marilyn writes about what her father did to her, the impact of abuse on her adult life and describes what specific "work" she did on her journey from victim to survivor.

For her tireless work in the area of child sexual abuse, Marilyn has received many awards and much recognition including, the "Exceptional Achievement in Public Service" from the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. Join us to hear Marilyn's impactful story and learn more about how you can prevent child abuse. Learn more about the featured speaker on her website.

2008 Appetite for Advocacy

Our first Appetite for Advocacy event, April 25, 2008, was a tremendous success! More than 450 people attended the luncheon at The Adolphus where Ruth Sharp Altshuler and Lt. Bill Walsh were presented with awards for their dedication to children in our community. Antwone Fisher then told his inspiring story. A DCAC client was also recognized for her resilience in moving beyond the pain of her past. Our event was SOLD OUT! Many thanks to our wonderful underwriters for supporting this event. If you have feedback about the event, please email emagnis@dcac.org.

Photos are available from the 2008 Luncheon. Please click here to visit the Appetite for Advocacy Photo Gallery.

John & Jennifer Eagle with Lynn Davis	Antwone Fisher with Ruth Altshuler, Caren Prothro and Dr. Kenneth Altshuler
Bill Walsh and Jim Strand