Richmond Guardian
East Sheen charity helping in hunt for missing Madeleine McCann
3:43pm Friday 25th May 2007
By Chris Wickham
Missing toddler: Madeline McCann
A borough charity is helping the family of missing toddler Madeleine McCann while the search for her continues, according to her uncle.
John McCann, brother of Madeleine's father Gerry, said Missing People, the new name for East Sheen based charity National Missing Persons Helpline, has offered key advice in the search for his niece.
Madeline, four last month, went missing from a holiday villa in Portugal on May 3 and an international hunt has been launched for the Leicestershire toddler.
But closer to home her uncle John said Missing People have helped to keep the case in the public eye, and make sure people around the world know of Madeline.
"They have taken Madeline on as a case," he said. "And they are helping us to do what we are doing, keeping the profile high, to keep the information coming out to the public.
"They have also shown us a bit of equipment which will help show us what Madeleine might look like if her appearance is changed.
"And if we don't get a quick resolution we will need long term support."
Mr McCann said the family still believed Madeleine was alive, and would continue to do so until they received evidence to the contrary.
He added they would leave no stone unturned in the quest to find her.
Mr McCann was speaking on International Missing Children's Day, May 25, and visited staff and volunteers at the Upper Richmond Road office to lend his support for their work.
His visit also came the day the charity changed its name to Missing People and launched an official yellow charity ribbon.
Paul Tuohy, chief executive of Missing People, said the charity had changed its name because it wanted to show it was more than just a helpline and to establish itself as the authoratitive voice on missing people.
He said the change had been planned for a year and the timing, with one of the biggest missing person cases in UK history ongoing, was co-incidental "Madeleine's disappearance has been a wake-up call that missing is a social issue," he said. "Our charity offers support to around 2000 families each year and directly as a result of our work we find 10 missing people every week.
"There isn't an authoritative voice on missing people in the UK and we need to appeal to the public in a way that we can also get more financial support. A lot of people think we have Government funding, nearly all of our money we need to fundraise.
"We had a turnover of £3m last year, which was our best ever year but if you compare that to Cancer Research, they do £450m a year.
"We are the only missing people charity in the UK and we will do whatever we can to keep a missing person's profile high."
For more informatio on Missing People visit missingpeople.org.uk and to contact the charity call the freefone number 0500 700 700.
East Sheen charity helping in hunt for missing Madeleine McCann
3:43pm Friday 25th May 2007
By Chris Wickham
Missing toddler: Madeline McCann
A borough charity is helping the family of missing toddler Madeleine McCann while the search for her continues, according to her uncle.
John McCann, brother of Madeleine's father Gerry, said Missing People, the new name for East Sheen based charity National Missing Persons Helpline, has offered key advice in the search for his niece.
Madeline, four last month, went missing from a holiday villa in Portugal on May 3 and an international hunt has been launched for the Leicestershire toddler.
But closer to home her uncle John said Missing People have helped to keep the case in the public eye, and make sure people around the world know of Madeline.
"They have taken Madeline on as a case," he said. "And they are helping us to do what we are doing, keeping the profile high, to keep the information coming out to the public.
"They have also shown us a bit of equipment which will help show us what Madeleine might look like if her appearance is changed.
"And if we don't get a quick resolution we will need long term support."
Mr McCann said the family still believed Madeleine was alive, and would continue to do so until they received evidence to the contrary.
He added they would leave no stone unturned in the quest to find her.
Mr McCann was speaking on International Missing Children's Day, May 25, and visited staff and volunteers at the Upper Richmond Road office to lend his support for their work.
His visit also came the day the charity changed its name to Missing People and launched an official yellow charity ribbon.
Paul Tuohy, chief executive of Missing People, said the charity had changed its name because it wanted to show it was more than just a helpline and to establish itself as the authoratitive voice on missing people.
He said the change had been planned for a year and the timing, with one of the biggest missing person cases in UK history ongoing, was co-incidental "Madeleine's disappearance has been a wake-up call that missing is a social issue," he said. "Our charity offers support to around 2000 families each year and directly as a result of our work we find 10 missing people every week.
"There isn't an authoritative voice on missing people in the UK and we need to appeal to the public in a way that we can also get more financial support. A lot of people think we have Government funding, nearly all of our money we need to fundraise.
"We had a turnover of £3m last year, which was our best ever year but if you compare that to Cancer Research, they do £450m a year.
"We are the only missing people charity in the UK and we will do whatever we can to keep a missing person's profile high."
For more informatio on Missing People visit missingpeople.org.uk and to contact the charity call the freefone number 0500 700 700.
