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Melania Trump embarks on 3-state tour focused on children's well-being

By Daniel Uria
First lady Melania Trump hugs 13-year-old Amani of Mombasa, Kenya, who has sickle cell disease, at the Children's Inn on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., on February 14. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
1 of 2 | First lady Melania Trump hugs 13-year-old Amani of Mombasa, Kenya, who has sickle cell disease, at the Children's Inn on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., on February 14. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

March 4 (UPI) -- First lady Melania Trump began a three-state tour Monday -- to Washington state, Nevada and Oklahoma -- to promote her "Be Best" initiative.

The first lady will visit the states to promote the pillars of the program that she introduced last year, which include the well-being of children, online safety and opioid abuse, the White House said.

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"Through #BeBest I will continue to help promote successful programs that provide children the tools and skills required for emotional, social and physical well-being," Trump tweeted ahead of the trip.

The first lady's tour began in Tulsa, Okla., Monday, where she visited "an award-winning elementary school" with a focus on including character instruction and education in its curriculum. After that, she will tour a tech company in Seattle and receive briefings on the company's programs and applications used to teach children about online safety as well as innovations in technology meant to help children with disabilities. On Tuesday, she will travel to Las Vegas and deliver remarks and participate in a town hall discussion on opioids.

"We always need to be kind and show love," she said in a Tulsa classroom.

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"Whether it is social media and technology or drug and alcohol abuse, children in our country and around the world are faced with many challenges," she said in a White House statement.

Trump introduced the Be Best initiative in May 2018, saying the goal of her public awareness campaign is to encourage parents and all adults to impart to children to be kind, refrain from bullying on social media and elsewhere, as well as stay away from drugs.

She also pledged to speak with leaders in the technology industry about children's social media habits, work with those fighting drug addiction and to travel and speak to children.

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Trump embarked on her first "Be Best" tour last October, when she traveled to Africa in her first solo trip abroad as first lady of the United States.

Melania visited Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt on the trip and worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development to promote healthcare and education programs.

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