Promoting family
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
CHEYENNE, WYO.
Defending and promoting the family earned an award from the Church for Wyoming's first couple Saturday, May 9, at a ceremony in their honor.
Elder Steven E. Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy presented Gov. Dave Freudenthal and first lady Nancy Freudenthal with the Family Values Award for their outstanding contributions to helping Wyoming families. Elders Randy D. Funk and Dennis C. Brimhall, Area Seventies, joined Elder Snow in the presentation at the Little America Hotel in Cheyenne. In his introduction of the award, Elder Funk said the Freudenthals had worked tirelessly to help strengthen families in the state, which had benefited Wyoming residents.
In accepting the award, Nancy Freudenthal expressed gratitude for the recognition but said she felt the families of Wyoming were the ones who deserve the award. She referenced many troubling statistics and many of the challenges families are facing, and praised the LDS Church for efforts to help families to help themselves, recalling her visit to Salt Lake City when she met with the First Presidency.
Nancy Freudenthal has championed many causes that are increasingly important to Wyoming families. One initiative, "Wyoming First Lady's Family Night," encourages families to share a meal. For the past four years, family night resources have made it into the homes of thousands of Wyoming families, including a box with conversation starters to be used anywhere a busy family goes, and a booklet, the "Year of the Connected Family," is filled with a year's worth of family night activities. Nancy Freudenthal has been an active supporter of family night and has encouraged all to get involved with their own families.
Gov. Freudenthal launched the Child and Family Initiative, putting into action legislative proposals for early investments in youth, future work-force needs, the K-12 educational system and preventive steps to stem social problems including drug and alcohol abuse. He designated October 2008 "Family and School Involvement Month," encouraging residents to raise their level of involvement in their children's learning and to set high expectations for their students. He also set aside March 2, 2009, "Early Life Care and Education Awareness Week" to emphasize how quality early life care, educational settings and the interaction of parents and family members directly affect a child's mental and physical development.
Gov. Freudenthal expressed appreciation for the honor and said the greatest work anyone can do is that done in families. He said the Wyoming National Guard was in the midst of the largest overseas deployment ever and the No.1 concern of soldiers being deployed was for their families. He expressed the common interest of people of faith to strengthen families.
In his comments, Elder Funk said this defense of the family was similar to the attitude found in the Church, emphasizing the importance the Church places on the family, education and keeping children safe from alcohol. He concluded his remarks by quoting from The Proclamation on the Family: "We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society." And that, Elder Funk said, is just what the Freudenthals have done.
