PROTECT Honors Three Warriors for
Distinguished Acts of Child Protection

Alison Arngrim, Kathy Doolin, Kim Talman Receive First Annual PROTECT Awards

IN OUR FIRST THREE YEARS, the National Association to Protect Children did not bestow awards. We were fighting a war in which battle scars were the only medals, and we didn't have an extra dime to spend on the plaques and ribbons so many child advocacy organizations bestow as readily as they do compliments for the magnificent job the government (or whoever funds them) is doing.

Every single victory that PROTECT has won is the result of the combined work of many dedicated people around the U.S. and the world. Individuals have done so many extraordinary things that even listing them would require more bandwidth than we have available. Membership in 100 Friends is one of those acts which speaks for itself. Those who follow PROTECT's work closely know about the contributions of people who have made selfless contributions from the very earliest days—people like Eve Shatto Walton and Lou Bank, Geofrey Darrow and Joe Lansdale, Vanessa Burt and Clint Billington and Trey Bundy and … see what we mean?

But the time has come to begin a new tradition. As we embark upon our fifth year, we are thus very proud to announce the first-ever recipients of awards from the National Association to Protect Children.

It has been said that the first person to receive an award embodies the spirit of that honor. In acknowledging their contributions, we are all honored. Please join us in thanking the first annual winners of three very special PROTECT awards.

The PROTECT National Leadership Award

The first-ever PROTECT National Leadership Award is given to actress and activist Alison Arngrim of California. Ms. Arngrim has been a tireless firebrand for PROTECT since our beginnings in late 2002. She has become the face and voice of PROTECT for millions through her appearances on national news and interview shows. Whether flying into Kansas to campaign with grassroots volunteers or driving the back roads of central California in the driving rain, Ms. Arngrim has broken every stereotype there is about Hollywood celebrities. She has testified before lawmakers, marched the halls of Congress and provided regular analysis of complex legislation. In one of her greatest contributions, Ms. Arngrim surrendered her own, deeply-held privacy to speak publicly about her childhood sexual abuse. Her leadership has redefined what it means to "speak out." Ms. Arngrim was not a "celebrity in need of a cause." She had no book or movie to promote. She stood up because it had to be done, and her courage and commitment are a true model for all.

In 2006, Alison Arngrim, still known as Little House on the Prairie's "Nellie Oleson" to millions, took on one of the most powerful politicians in New York, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Hearing that Silver, said to rule the New York Assembly like a king, had killed PROTECT's Circle of Trust legislation and shut down all opposition, Arngrim left Los Angeles and flew back to the place of her birth, Queens, New York. There, in a political gunfight worthy of any high plains drama, she challenged Silver in the New York and national media, forcing the public to take a long, hard look at one of the most child-oppressive laws ever written. Her leadership was instrumental in winning legal rights that will protect child incest victims in New York for generations to come.

The PROTECT Volunteer of the Year Award

The first-ever PROTECT Volunteer of the Year Award is given to Katherine Doolin of Seattle, Washington. Ms. Doolin was among PROTECT's earliest and proudest card-carrying members. At a time when PROTECT was struggling most, Ms. Doolin was one of the first to step up and step in. Like the best of volunteers anywhere, she went where she was needed most. She was not only relentless, she was reliably relentless … the very embodiment of our code: Behavior is the Truth. Despite working a full-time job, Kathy Doolin gave nights, weekends and even holidays to her new mission. Inevitably, Ms. Doolin became essential to PROTECT. Her work as the Association's Member Services director made her the first name and face PROTECT members meet upon joining. Less well known is that Kathy Doolin's contributions were not measured in time alone. She is living proof that the most generous philanthropists in America are working men and women of modest financial means.

Anyone who knows how much PROTECT relies upon volunteers, and how deeply our philosophy is rooted in a grassroots ideal, will understand what it means that this inaugural award is given to "Kathy in Seattle." Attorney and author Andrew Vachss, one of PROTECT's founding national advisory board members and a man not given to hyperbole, said it best when he called Ms. Doolin, "the undisputed reigning champion of volunteers everywhere."

The PROTECT Circle of Trust Award

The first-ever Circle of Trust Award goes to Kim Talman of New York. This award recognizes the highest individual contribution of a PROTECT member to the goals and ideals of our organization.

Ms. Talman epitomizes the awesome potential of a grassroots lobby for children. A mother and hardware store owner from Long Island, New York, Kim arrived on the scene in the New York capitol as a highly-effective citizen lobbyist in 2006. As the year began, she was scrambling to understand legislative language, secure sponsors at the statehouse, and discover the secrets of how a bill actually becomes law. In near-record time, Kim was a veteran of legislative testimony, press conferences, media strategy and backroom dealing. Along the way, she pioneered the concept of state chapters for PROTECT, giving our national association valuable information about how to create local grassroots structures that will work. She also became the chair of PROTECT-New York.

Most important legislative victories are so complex that, while many might rightly claim glory, it would be impossible to say that any one individual was actually indispensable. In New York, one of the toughest political arenas in America, this can be said with certainty of Kim Talman. Without her iron will, her ability to learn—and master—complex legislative strategy, and her absolute refusal to be defeated, New York's most vulnerable children would still be subject to that state's infamous "incest loophole". And because of her, generations of children will be protected.

In December, PROTECT presented Ms. Talman with the 2006 Circle of Trust Award, a hand-carved dragon by Balinese artist Nyoman Subrata. (This award was underwritten by a private PROTECT donor—it did not come from member contributions.) It represents the dragon of the "incest loophole," the dragon slain by Kim Talman and the hundreds of PROTECT members that she led into battle in New York in 2006.