Contact: Margo Stanton, 240-777-4226
Esther Bowring, 240-777-6530

For Immediate Release: June 20, 2001

Smith Named Walk to School Day Coordinator

Montgomery County has named Silver Spring resident William Smith as its International Walk to School Day Coordinator for 2001. Smith will work with schools across the County as they take part in the annual event that promotes the benefits of more pedestrian-friendly communities.

“We are delighted that Mr. Smith is willing to take on this project,” said Montgomery County Traffic Safety Coordinator Margo Stanton. “As a volunteer, Mr. Smith organized the first National Walk Our Children to School Day in Montgomery County at East Silver Spring Elementary School in 1999, and he helped expand awareness of the annual event’s goals.”

As coordinator, Smith will encourage community leaders, businesses, government, and Parent-Teacher Associations to get involved in supporting this year’s Walk Our Children to School event October 2, 2001.

Last year, seven Montgomery County schools participated in the national celebrations. The event in Silver Spring, organized by Smith, included participation by County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, U.S. Representatives Albert Wynn and Connie Morella, U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, and Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Jerry Weast.

At the Silver Spring event, Duncan stressed the importance of safe, walkable neighborhoods in making communities more livable. “It is critical that we make our community safer – not only for our youngest residents, but for all pedestrians,” he said. “Montgomery County is making pedestrian safety a priority to ensure the well being of all our residents, and especially our more vulnerable children. Pedestrian fatalities are preventable, and together, we can make a difference.”

In 1997, the Partnership for a Walkable America sponsored the first National Walk Our Children to School Day in Chicago as a way to bring community leaders and children together to make a community more walkable. By 2000, children, parents, teachers and community leaders in 47 states joined two million walkers around the world to celebrate the first International Walk to School Day.

For more information about this year’s Walk event, contact William Smith at 301-565-0788, or by email at Xlcvb@aol.com. Additional information about International Walk to School Day in the U.S. can be found at http://www.walktoschool-usa.org/about.htm, and to find out about The Partnership for a Walkable America visit http://www.nsc.org/walkable.htm.