Dear Abby on uExpress

ABOUT DEAR ABBY

Who hasn't heard of Dear Abby in movies, television and print? The most widely syndicated newspaper columnist in the world, Abby commands a client list of about 1,400 newspapers worldwide, and a daily readership of more than 110 million people.

Abby receives more than 10,000 letters and e-mails per week. More than 80 percent of the correspondence she receives comes from readers between 18 and 49. The majority of the rest comes from people under 18.

Abby is one of only three laypersons ever to be granted a prestigious Life Consultant membership in the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP), an organization of nationally respected psychiatrists dedicated to shaping psychiatric thinking, public programs and clinical practice in mental health.

No one refuses a call from Abby. She has access to the most respected and reliable sources in the world. Her sources include Supreme Court justices, senators, members of Congress, civil rights leaders, world-renowned doctors and scientists, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and even the president of the United States.

Abby has appeared as an expert on all major networks, including ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC.

COMMONSENSE SOLUTIONS TO EVERYDAY PROBLEMS

Abby uses her column not only to entertain, but also to educate. In the U.S., public and private middle schools use her column to teach sex education and generate classroom discussion on a variety of subjects'the same is true in colleges and universities. Abby addresses relationship problems in people's personal and business lives, alcohol and drug abuse, crimes against children, diversity, domestic abuse, preventive health, suicide prevention, volunteerism and the Living Will, to name only a few.

Dear Abby is used by educators worldwide as a teaching tool in adult level ESL (English as a Second Language) courses in the U.S. and as far away as Japan, Korea, Poland and France. In 2004, a Dear Abby ESL textbook was published by a Japanese educational publisher. In 2005, a similar request came from a university professor in the People's Republic of China.

EVERYBODY'S FRIEND

Every Web site mentioned in Dear Abby receives an immediate onslaught of viewers, and organizations mentioned are routinely encouraged to gear up to accept millions of hits. After a recent mention in Dear Abby almost 2 million publications were shipped from the Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) at the request of her readers'an unprecedented response for the FCIC.

The U.S. General Services Administration has recognized Abby twice in ceremonies in both Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and both times memorialized her achievements in the Congressional Record.

Abby has been given awards of appreciation by the Pentagon for the success of OperationDearAbby.net, her year-round morale-boosting Web site. Since its launch in December 2001, more than 36 million individually written electronic messages of support have been sent by Americans to all branches of the military stationed worldwide via OperationDearAbby.net.

Abby sits on the 2006 Board of Judges for the Talbots Charitable Foundation Women's Scholarship Fund. She is also on the Advisory Boards of the National Alzheimer's Association, the Children's Rights Council, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Kidney Foundation.

She has received awards from the National Office of Drug Policy, American Academy of Dermatology for excellence in public education of dermatology issues, American Ex-Prisoners of War, Overeaters Anonymous and the national Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program.

Abby began working at age 14 under the tutelage of her mother, who founded the Dear Abby column. As a young girl, Abby answered letters from other teens under the training and supervision of her mother. In 1987, Abby assumed all the writing responsibilities for Dear Abby.