AUTHOR and first cousin of one of Australia's long-term missing people Melissa Pouliot is inviting South Coast families to have a picnic for their missing loved ones as part of National Missing Persons Week.
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The National Missing Persons Coordination Centre will kick off its annual week of focus on missing people in Australia on August 1 with Picnic for Missing.
Ms Pouliot said Picnic for Missing is an opportunity for friends and families to celebrate the life of a loved one who has gone missing from their lives.
The inspiration behind the initiative is Ms Pouliot’s first cousin Ursula Barwick, who went missing in Sydney in 1987 and has never been found.
Ms Pouliot launched Picnic for Missing last year with a picnic for Ursula in their hometown of Quirindi.
This year, Ursula’s family and friends will have their picnic for Ursula on August 1 in Fitzroy Gardens, Kings Cross.
A team of Kings Cross detectives investigating Ursula's disappearance will also attend as part of their appeal for witnesses to come forward with new information.
Founder of the Australian Missing Persons Register Nicole Morris and Mark Jones, whose brother Tony Jones inspired Australia’s National Missing Persons Week, are supporting the initiative.
Loren O’Keeffe, who founded the Missing Persons Advocacy Network after her brother Dan went missing in 2011, is also supporting the picnic.
An estimated 35,000 people go missing each year.
Of those, more than 1600 have been missing for more than six months.
Research in Australia says up to 12 people are affected for every person who goes missing.
Ms Pouliot said families who have a picnic can make it a private gathering or use the opportunity to highlight their individual missing person’s case by asking people to come forward with new information.
“The idea behind the picnic is to provide an opportunity for families and friends to get together to remember their missing loved one, share memories and remember the good times,” she said.
“For my family, the picnic has also become an opportunity to reinvigorate attention on Ursula’s disappearance and aims to inspire other families in a similar situation to never give up hope.”
For more information on the Picnic for Missing visit www.facebook.com/Picnicdayformissingpeople or www.melissapouliot.com and to register email Ms Pouliot on mp@melissapouliot.com or the Australian Missing Persons Register founder Nicole Morris on nicole@australianmissingpersonsregister.com.
