4th Annual Denim Day Event to Bring Awareness to Missing Children

By Katie McFadden

According to MissingKids.org, two children from Rockaway have been missing for several months. Jafet Jemmott, a 15-year-old boy from Arverne, has been missing since November 28, 2025. Sophia Casillas, 16, is missing from Rockaway Park since September 2025, and is also being searched for by the Pennsylvania State Police. They are just two of many across the country. According to the FBI, 460,000 to 800,000 children are reported missing every year in the United States. It’s such a widespread issue that May 25 marks National Missing Children’s Day. That’s why XtremeMeasure’s 4th Annual Denim Day event on Saturday, May 2, at the Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Center will also focus on Missing Children’s Day Awareness.

Four years ago, sexual assault and domestic violence survivor Theresa Racine of XtremeMeasure, a human rights organization that focuses on domestic violence, human trafficking, missing people and more, started a local Denim Day after being involved in such events since 2015. Denim Day is an international event held at the end of Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April every year since 1999. Past events have put focus on domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. With local kids missing, and as an issue that has impacted her own family, Racine wanted to combine her Denim Day event with Missing Children’s Day, to highlight both issues this year.

“My granddaughter went missing when she was 14 after she was talking to older men online. My daughter also went missing and she was sex trafficked. My friend’s daughter also went missing. After my granddaughter went missing, I learned of at least six others that went missing and I made it a mission to help find them,” Racine said. “It’s not a good feeling not knowing where your family is and I’ve taken a lot of courses and workshops on how to help find people, so I started helping others whether it’s through starting search teams, making calls, distributing flyers, offering advice, comfort and prayers for the families to help them focus and helping to get their stories on the news. My granddaughter was on TV before she was found. She was missing for two weeks before we found her.”

So, the event on Saturday, May 2 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Addabbo Health (6200 Beach Channel Drive) will offer some workshops, resources, guest speakers, self-defense courses and other valuable lessons to help teach others the signs to look out for, ways to defend themselves, and much more.

The event will begin with music sang by the St. Rose of Lima choir, followed by a prayer by Pastor Lisa Paul and singing by Ebony Beatty, as part of a memorial ceremony for those lost due to domestic violence, sexual abuse and human trafficking. Like last year, guests will be asked to write inspirational messages of hope and empowerment like “Love shouldn’t hurt” and “My body, my choice,” on posters, and everyone will be given a pinwheel to plant in a box, as a symbol of a wish for all missing children to be found. Following last year’s pinwheel planting, the FBI reported that 6,200 missing children were found in 2025, an increase of 30% from the previous year.

The Queens District Attorney’s office will do a workshop on human trafficking. Crime Prevent Officer Jason Farrell of the 100th Precinct will conduct a workshop on online dangers for children, a workshop usually conducted by Peter DiMiceli, founder and president of Protect Our Children, but he can’t be there due to being injured in a fire, so the event will be dedicated to him. Speakers will include Rose Cabo, whose daughter Chelsea has been missing from Brooklyn for 10 years and Nativad Nazario, a former Rockaway resident and the author of “The Monster in My Head,” a new book about her survival of childhood abuse. Seph Figueroa will lead a breathwork class. DJ Rhythm Selector J will play tunes between activities and speakers and Rosalyn Mason of QRP Queens Royal Priesthood Inc. will emcee.

Moises Reyes of Valiant Karate, community affairs manager for the Queens Community Justice Center-The Rockaways and a minister at Highland Church in Jamaica, will be conducting a self-defense workshop and will provide safety tips about how to be aware of your surroundings and what to do if you suspect you’re being followed. He’ll also be demonstrating some simple yet effective moves that people can use to defend themselves, no matter their age, including how to use tools like keys, a pen, a cane, and other items to survive an attack.

“It’s an honor to work with Theresa because she has a heart to serve and she wants to inform people that these things are real and it’s happening, and we see all of these things happening on the news now. It could be your child, it could happen next door, to someone you work with, sex abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence, missing children, these are issues that can’t be ignored and for me, I feel martial arts can be healing and empowering for people who have been through those things, or it can help prevent them from becoming victims, and the more eyes we have on these things, the better for everyone,” Reyes said.

Racine said she wasn’t planning on holding a Denim Day event this year. “I’m getting tired. It’s a big event. I was planning on taking a year off because I have the Art Club going on and other things, so I was going to take a break and come back refreshed to bring this beyond Rockaway, but nobody wanted me to stop,” she said.

After speaking with Dwayne Thomas, a community health worker at Addabbo Health, he inspired Racine to keep going, while offering a little help. So, this year’s event is being held at the Addabbo Center, with activities indoors and outdoors and food provided. “Dwayne and Addabbo have really stepped up to help. We are in a pivotal moment to do this event,” Racine said. “For me to walk away right now wasn’t the right time because we have two children missing here and others in neighboring areas. We’re all on hyperawareness for what’s going on and we need everyone to come out and learn so you are protected by this stuff. Parents should be flocking to these events.”

Reyes also encourages everyone to stop by. “Come and educate yourself. These things are happening, and if we continue to not say anything, it will continue happening, but if we come together to bring awareness and more people join this fight, we can protect our kids in the future. You won’t be sorry if you come.”

The 4th Annual Denim Day and Missing Children’s Day Awareness event is May 2, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Addabbo Health (6200 Beach Channel Drive). Jeans are encouraged for Denim Day. Jeans will also be given out at the event to those who want them. If you have new or old jeans in good condition to donate, text 646-408-1200 for information on how to donate.