991 W. Hedding St. - Suite 101, San
Jose, CA 95126
Dedicated Service in the Prevention &
Recovery of Missing & Abducted Children Since 1981
Unsung Heroes Ceremony
On April 8th, 2003 the Victim Support
Network for Santa Clara County celebrated its 20th Anniversary by honoring and
celebrating crime victim advocates.
The Victim Support Network (VSN) for Santa Clara County is a formal association
of victim service professionals who strive to enhance the quality and quantity
of services for crime victims. The VSN also provides support, referral and
education as well as advocacy for improvements in the area of law enforcement
and the criminal justice system.
Each year member agencies of the VSN nominate individuals whose efforts in the
field of crime victim service exemplify the goals and mission of the VSN. This
year nine VSN agencies nominated 23 Unsung Heroes to receive recognition at a
ceremony held appropriately during National Crime Victim’s Rights Week.
As a member agency, the Vanished Children's Alliance (VCA) nominated 3
outstanding individuals for their commitment to helping VCA fulfill its mission.
Jeff
Rearing a teacher and his students from the SDC-LF class at Overfelt High School
in San José were recognized for the 183.75 volunteer hours they provided to
VCA’s vending department.
The Special Day Class students helped stuff thousands of envelopes and folded
thousands of sheets of paper in support of VCA’s mission related revenue
generating Vending Sticking program. VCA thanks them once again for their
dedication and hard work.
VCA
also recognized one of its own employees, Melissa Scampini, a Senior Caseworker.
Melissa has been with VCA for two years. As the Senior Caseworker, Melissa is
responsible for managing a caseload of approximately 100 missing child cases.
Melissa maintains regular contact with victim parents and law enforcement agents
and provides bilingual assistance to Spanish speaking VCA clientele.
VCA’s final nominee was Rick Gomez, Event Marketing
Manager for
Orchard
Supply Hardware (OSH). Rick Gomez was unable to make it to the ceremony so his
supervisor, Rick Saunders, Director of Marketing for OSH accepted the award on
his behalf. Rick Gomez helped VCA outreach staff become involved in several
exciting community events by sharing booth space with VCA fingerprinters and
inviting them to OSH sponsored events like the Bay Area How-to Fairs. Rick Gomez
and OSH also included VCA in a statewide child safety event that was held at all
82 California OSH stores last October and resulted in over 16,000 children being
fingerprinted. VCA applauds Rick Gomez and OSH for their commitment to child
safety.
Jeff
Rearing a teacher and his students from the SDC-LF class at Overfelt High School
in San José were recognized for the 183.75 volunteer hours they provided to
VCA’s vending department. 
VCA
also recognized one of its own employees, Melissa Scampini, a Senior Caseworker.
Melissa has been with VCA for two years. As the Senior Caseworker, Melissa is
responsible for managing a caseload of approximately 100 missing child cases.
Melissa maintains regular contact with victim parents and law enforcement agents
and provides bilingual assistance to Spanish speaking VCA clientele. 
Orchard
Supply Hardware (OSH). Rick Gomez was unable to make it to the ceremony so his
supervisor, Rick Saunders, Director of Marketing for OSH accepted the award on
his behalf. Rick Gomez helped VCA outreach staff become involved in several
exciting community events by sharing booth space with VCA fingerprinters and
inviting them to OSH sponsored events like the Bay Area How-to Fairs. Rick Gomez
and OSH also included VCA in a statewide child safety event that was held at all
82 California OSH stores last October and resulted in over 16,000 children being
fingerprinted. VCA applauds Rick Gomez and OSH for their commitment to child
safety.