September 8, 2008

NEW YORK – Police, family, and friends of Hannah Upp, 23, are searching for the young New York City school teacher who has been missing since August 29. Ms. Upp is the daughter of the Rev. Barbara Bellus of Portland, Oregon.

News reports on the afternoon of September 8 indicated that no clues have been found as to the whereabouts of Ms. Upp, who was last reported to be preparing to go to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the Labor Day holiday. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, a school in the Philadelphia area.

Ms. Upp is a teacher of Spanish at Thurgood Marshall Academy in Harlem. She and other teachers share an apartment in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood not far from the school.

Rev. Bellus is in New York City and has made public appeals for information on her daughter. The United Federation of Teachers has posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to the young woman's return.

Queens Federation of Churches