MONTICELLO – The International Day of the Disappeared is on August 30th every year. It’s a day to remember missing people and show solidarity with their families. It’s also a day to draw attention to people imprisoned in unknown locations and conditions. Locally, an organization called Hope Alive 845 is dedicated to helping families and law enforcement with missing persons cases.
Domingo Ramos is the founder. “Every day somebody goes missing. I know in New York State alone is over 40,000 people missing. And a lot of them are reported as missing,” he said.
Runaways are a problem, and sometimes the cause is misunderstood.
“Sometimes you get family with domestic violence, and they just want to get away,” Ramos said. “Sometimes, they could have a mental health issue. They could be autistic. They could be schizophrenic.”
He says that the public should, if they see something, say something. “We’re not there when something goes missing, but they are, a lot of times people are scared to come forward. We have other ways that they can come forward with any kind of information so they can remain anonymous.”
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