New Illinois Governor Proclaims “Children’s Day”
Posted Thursday, June 11, 2009 by NationalChildrensDay.us
Contact Information: John Ross at (630) 879-8828, Daybreak Communications, Inc.
Organization's URL: http://www.nationalchildrensday.us

• Governor Pat Quinn Affirms Special Day on Sunday

Batavia, Ill., June 11, 2009 (The Religion Wire™) — Illinois’s new governor, Pat Quinn, has proclaimed “Children’s Day” on the second Sunday in June (this year June 14, 2009). Governor Quinn on Wednesday issued the proclamation.

“I am so happy that Governor Quinn put the state of Illinois in the forefront of the nation in thinking about and honoring children on this special day in June,” notes John Ross, an advocate for Children’s Day and founder of the website, www.nationalchildrensday.us, and its mirror www.childrensday.us. (A copy of the governor’s proclamation is available at the website.)

Children’s Day observations in the United States date from the 1860s and earlier. The Methodist Episcopal Church at the Methodist Conference of 1868 recommended that the second Sunday in June be observed annually as Children’s Day. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1883 designated the “the second Sabbath in June as Children’s Day.”

The Children’s Day website offers help and challenges parents, individuals, churches/houses of worship, schools/places of education, government/community and businesses to sign commitment cards directed at affirming America’s children. They pledge to “commit myself(ourself), in the coming year, to love, cherish, nurture (physical, mental, emotional, & spiritual needs), and affirm...” They can also make a commitment beyond America to the world’s children.

Again this year, the mayors of two Illinois cities, Aurora and Batavia, reaffirmed Children’s Day.

Currently Chase’s Calendar of Events cites Children’s Sunday and notes that The Commonwealth of Massachusetts issues an annual proclamation for the second Sunday in June.

Numerous churches and denominations, including the African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and the Church of the Nazarene, now observe the second Sunday in June as Children’s Day.

# # #

PDF of news release