Posted at: 11/14/2009 11:48 PM | WHEC.com
Updated at: 11/15/2009 8:46 AM
By: Linzi Sheldon
Drexel family encouraged to keep search alive
The family of missing Chili teen Brittanee Drexel received words of encouragement this weekend.
Saturday night, Ed Smart joined the Drexel family at the 25th annual gala for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"I don’t think parents can give up hope," Smart said.
Smart's daughter, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart, returned home safely in 2003 after being spotted with her abductor.
For the Drexels, his story is a sign of hope for Brittanee, who has been missing for nearly 7 months.
"That's your child, that’s your flesh and blood...and you want to find them," Smart said.
The evening gave him a chance to reach out to the Drexel family.
“It helps to be around people who have either been through it or are going through it," Dawn Drexel, Brittanee's mother, said.
The 18-year-old disappeared on April 25th while on spring break in Myrtle Beach.
As people bid on Christmas decorations all around Dawn Drexel, she said the upcoming holiday will be difficult without her daughter.
"Decorating the Christmas tree," she said. "Decorating the house. Going out Christmas shopping. Wrapping gifts. She just loved it all."
"I just miss her so much," Brittanee's grandmother, Carol Wagner, said. "I just wish whoever has her just brings her home safely to us."
Ed Suk, Executive Director at the Center's New York branch, says the Drexels have to keep believing in Brittanee's return.
"We know that situations happen all the time, where a child's been missing for several months, several years, sometimes more than a decade, and that child is brought home safely," Suk said.
He says the story of Elizabeth Smart, who was found safe after nine months, is proof of that.
Ed Smart says the Drexels are doing the right thing by keeping Brittanee's photo out there.
"It is that awareness, it is going to be that exposure, that helps her to be found," Smart said.
"We have to keep hoping that she's out there," Dawn Drexel said. "We're hoping that somebody will come forward with any information."
The fundraiser included about a thousand items donated for silent auction and 33 items for a live auction.
All of the money goes toward the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for activities like search efforts and education.
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