FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 10, 2009 (Los Angeles)
GINA for Missing Persons FOUNDation Announces:
The
International Squeaky WheelTour®for the Missing comes to Indiana
Wednesday October 28, 2009
Mickey’s Irish Pub
October 17-November
4, 2009
19 days, 100’s
of artists in a grassroots effort to FIND missing people!
When
Gina Bos disappeared from Lincoln, Nebraska
in October 2000, her sister, Jannel Rap, was left with an impossible void to fill. But in Gina's honor and for her memory,
Jannel used her greatest gift, music, to mobilize an international community of artists and families of missing people, generate
much-needed attention, and inspire hope.
When Patti Bishops
step-daughter Karen Jo Smith disappeared Patti sprung into action and not only looked for Karen, but learned skills that would
help her look for others and in so doing founded the nonprofit IN Hope. These 2 women met that very first year after their
loved ones disappeared and formed a bond that now has them on the Squeaky Wheel Tour®
from Michigan to Indiana to Tennessee. They are hoping to gain enough attention for the missing in these areas to help
bring someone's loved one home.
In light of Jaycee Dugard’s family’s
long wait, Jannel and Patti are asking how long families of the missing must wait to FIND their loved ones. The
Squeaky Wheel Tour® is one antidote they hope with help fill that impossible
void. The significance of SWT Dates: The Squeaky Wheel Tour starts on Gina’s disappearance date and winds down on her
birthday, November 4
Gina
Bos disappeared after a performance in Lincoln. Her car was
found across the street from the pub, with the trunk open and her guitar inside. To this day, the guitar is the only
evidence Gina’s family has. The family languished for six long months in an effort to get the word out about Gina
as her story lacked the scandal that garners immediate attention.
Karen
Jo Smith was last seen by her then 14 yr. old son in her chair in the presence of her ex husband in her Indianapolis, IN home
on 12/27/2000. In December of 2004, Steve Halcomb was convicted of 1st Degree Murder and sentenced to 95 years.
However Karen’s remains have not been found. The family will never stop searching.
This
is what compels Jannel and Patti today. Without an explosive media angle, hundreds of people go missing without
the valuable media attention to support the effort to find them. As a musician herself, Jannel decided to use her pulpit,
the stage, to talk about her sister and others like her, and encouraged other musicians to do the same. This was the
beginning of GINA for Missing Persons FOUNDation, a non-profit established by Jannel which helps artists to profile missing
people at organized events, and mobilize communities to not forget.
Nine
years later thousands of GINA Artists worldwide partner in creating the Squeaky Wheel Tour®.
Artists volunteer their events as the platform to make some noise about a local missing person, they ask attendees to take
flyers to post throughout their community. People are FOUND every year. To date since this journey began in 2001, over 450
people profiled collectively by GINA Artists, GINA Programs, Law Enforcement, families of the missing and media have been
found.
IN Hope, Heart and Faith,
Patti Bishop
765-404-2101
www.missingkarenjosmith.com
www.inhopeindianamissing.com
