Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 99 Part 2.djvu/882

 99 STAT. 1992

PROCLAMATION 5280—NOV. 13, 1984

Our food supply depends upon the farmers who plant their crops and through hard work, faith, and patience, bring in a golden harvest. But it also depends on many people who live in towns and cities. It relies on those who provide farm equipment and production supplies for farmers, as well as on the processors who prepare the products for delivery throughout the Nation by a dependable network of transportation. Finally, we rely on the merchants who store and sell the agricultural products. It is appropriate that we recognize the interdependence of all those involved in the system with a National Farm-City Week near Thanksgiving. As we give thanks for our food in this great land of freedom, let us also pause to salute the 23 million Americans who work directly in some essential task in agriculture, on farms, and in cities.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the period November 16 through November 22, 1984, as National Farm-City Week. I call upon all Americans, in rural areas and in cities alike, to join in recognizing the accomplishments of our productive farm families and of our urban residents in working together in a spirit of cooperation. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and ninth. RONALD REAGAN Proclamation 5280 of November 13, 1984

National Adoption Week, 1984


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By the President of the United States of America • r.: . A Proclamation Families have always stood at the center of our society, preserving good and worthy traditions from our past and entrusting those traditions to our children, our greatest hope for the future. At a time when many fear that the family is in decline, it is fitting that we give special recognition to those who are rebuilding families by promoting adoption. More children with permanent homes mean fewer children with permanent problems. That is why we must encourage a national effort to promote the adoption of children, and particularly children with special needs. Through the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, some 6,000 children have been adopted who otherwise might not have been, and the number is growing. The recently enacted Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act will provide further assistance to couples who adopt children with special needs. We must never forget those couples who know the anguish of prolonged waiting to welcome an adopted child into their home. One aspect of the tragedy of the 1.5 million abortions performed each year is that so many women who undergo abortions are unaware of the many couples who desperately want to share their loving homes with a baby. No woman need fear that the child she carries is unwanted. We must continue to promote constructive alternatives to abortion through the Adolescent Family Life program and by encouraging the efforts of private citizens who are helping women with crisis pregnancies.

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