Elizabeth Smart, child abduction survivor and child safety advocate, will be the guest presenter at a program on the University of Southern Mississippi campus next month.

Smart, whose 2002 abduction at age 14 and nine-month captivity held the nation is suspense, is now 31 years old and is a national speaker and child safety advocate.

She will be a guest presenter for Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services’ 35th anniversary program. The event will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, February 19, at the Thad Cochran Center on the University of Southern Mississippi campus in Hattiesburg. It will be presented by Pine Grove and the Forrest General Healthcare Foundation.

Admission is $100 for individuals, and tables seating up to 10 people may be reserved for $1,000. Proceeds from the event will benefit Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Spiritual Services’ Spiritual Grounds Project.

Smart’s abduction, one of the most infamous and followed child abduction cases in U.S. history, ended with her safe return by police to her family nine months later.

Her ordeal and recovery from the traumatic event, which led to her work to promote child safety, is chronicled in her New York Times best-selling book My Story, which she will autograph following her presentation, along with her other book, Where There’s Hope.

For more information on the event visit:

http://news.usm.edu/article/elizabeth-smart-guest-speaker-pine-grove-s-35th-anniversary-celebration-feb-19-hattiesburg-c

or  contact Colleen Munkel, director of business development for Pine Grove, at cmunkel@forrestgeneral.com or call 601.266.4834.

For more information about Pine Grove, visit https://www.pinegrovetreatment.com/.

For information about the Forrest General Healthcare Foundation, visit www.FGHFoundation.com.