Ginny and Wolters

Washington, D.C., Aug 18 -

U.S. Representative Ginny Brown-Waite (FL-05) today announced that she has selected Natalie Nichols Gillespie of Brooksville as the 2006 Angels in Adoption winner for Florida’s 5th Congressional District. 

“Natalie and her husband Adam have dedicated their lives to helping place orphans and adopted children into permanent, loving families,” said Rep. Brown-Waite.  “As an author of a step-by-step handbook on adoption, Natalie has shown that one person can indeed make a difference in the lives of others.  In fact, Natalie and Adam just returned from China where they completed the adoption of their seventh child.  I am so proud to welcome Natalie and her family to Washington for the award ceremony and to receive her deserved recognition.”

The Angels in Adoption campaign is a national movement to raise awareness about adoption and related issues.  The Gala is hosted by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption and President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush have been asked to serve as Honorary Co-Chairs of the event.  Rep. Brown-Waite currently serves as the Republican House Co-Chair and is herself the mother of an adopted daughter.  Natalie and her family will travel to join the other honorees at the Angels in Adoption gala in Washington, D.C. on September 20, 2006.

Natalie and Adam are the proud parents of six children, ranging in age from eight to twenty-three.  They recently completed the adoption of a seventh child, Amberlie Joy FuShuang Gillespie, from China.  As a journalist, Natalie contributes to many magazines and periodicals, writing about adoption issues and touching millions of Americans families with her uplifting message of giving and hope.  Additonally, Natalie authored a step-by-step adoption handbook, Successful Adoptions: A Guide for Christian Families.  Natalie also played an important role in the Hope for Orphans National Orphan Care Summit held in Arkansas earlier this year.  And she plans to spend time this fall helping to spread the word that November is National Adoption Awareness Month.

Past Angels in Adoption Award winners selected by Rep. Brown-Waite include:

2005 – Rev. Dwight Lee Wolter, Pastor of Spring Hill United Church of Christ in Spring Hill, Florida.  When Rev. Wolter was seventeen and still in high school, his girlfriend became pregnant.  At that point in their lives, the couple decided to place the child up for adoption and arranged for their daughter to be accepted by a loving and caring family.  Twenty-one years later, Rev. Wolter reached out to his daughter Linda to see if she was interested in meeting and getting to know one another.  Since that time, Rev. Wolter and Linda have built a relationship together, and have included each of their families as well.  In his capacity as the Pastor of Spring Hill United Church of Christ, Rev. Wolter has been an outspoken advocate of the positives of adoption, and has helped members of his congregation through similar choices and decisions in their lives.

2004 – Phil and Gay Courter, and their daughter Ashley Courter, of Crystal River.  In 1998, Phil and Gay Courter adopted their daughter Ashley after she spent nine years in foster care.  Gay Courter wrote a book, I Speak for This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate, about her work as a Guardian Ad Litem in the State of Florida.  The Courters have produced numerous films for the Dave Thomas Foundation on Adoption and won multiple awards, including a regional EMMY.  Ashley Courter has also been recognized nationally, winning first place in The New York Times Magazine essay contest last year for her essay on adoption day.

2003 –Susan and A.J. Fremer of Spring Hill.  The Fremers, adoptive parents to Hannah, 8, Olivia, 3, and Julianna, 14 months, adopted each of their children under extraordinary circumstances.  Hannah was born with what was believed to be a speech-impairing disability from which she has completely recovered.  Olivia and Julianna were born in southern China and came to live in the United States with the Fremers after living in foster care and orphanages, battling the bureaucracies of two governments and dealing with delays caused by Asia’s SARS epidemic.

The Angels in Adoption campaign is an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about adoption and related issues and to honor dedicated constituents for their efforts in helping children and families.  Since the program’s inception in 1999, Members of Congress have awarded more than 750 Angels to individuals from all 50 States and Puerto Rico.