My name is Paulina Gerzon, and I am eight years old. You may know me as "Maddie" on the popular TV show "All My Children".

One of the scenes I was in, I played a little girl who was kidnapped and thrown into a river to die. The show was very sad, but it was only make believe.

When I'm not acting, I go to school just like every other kid. It was there I learned that 75,000 kids go missing each year, and in many cases, bad things happen to them. That's really scary, because it's not make believe.

I heard about this through the COPS-CARE "SMART Program".

They came to my school with their buddy, Rudy the Fox. They brought us coloring books and a tee shirt, but most important, they made ID kits with fingerprints and photographs for our parents.

They taught us how to be safe with Rudy's simple rules:
1) Check First before we go anywhere
2) Always bring a buddy with us and
3) Its ok to say no to an adult who makes us feel uncomfortable or scared.

The show was really good, and they were nice, probably because they were moms and dads too.

When I told my mom about what they said, she got very quiet and said that "every kid should hear what the COPS-CARE people have to say".

That's when my mom and I decided to help these nice people teach other kids to be safe.

Mom says it will cost a lot of money to make all the kids safe in New York. I'm going to use every chance I get to help get the COPS-CARE SMART Program into every school.

Mom says if people donate money, its tax exempt, but I don't worry about things like that, at least not yet. I know you are probably busy, but this is really important.

Take a look at these really neat things your kids brought home and the ID kit that every parent should have, and if you can help us to bring these things to other kids, we would really appreciate it.