Pittsburgh ? The nation deals with its missing children differently since 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan stepped off a school bus 20 years ago, never to be seen again.

Cherrie was the first of about 1,200 missing children who have been pictured on postcards now mailed to millions of homes with advertising circulars. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, then in its infancy, has since become part of the national crime-fighting establishment. And Amber Alerts are a part of the national vocabulary.

That progress — and the belief that somehow, somewhere, Cherrie is OK — is what keeps Cherrie’s mother going these days.

“I don’t know that I will ever accept it,” said Janice McKinney, 44, of her daughter’s abduction Feb. 22, 1985. “It’s just that the good Lord gave me enough faith to know that he’s protecting her and … that someday I will know” what happened to her.

State police have few new leads in Cherrie’s disappearance from Winfield Township, a rural community about 20 miles north of Pittsburgh.

“We like to try to get the information out, back into the public’s mind on the anniversary,” Trooper Jonathan Bayer said. “Hopefully, it might jar people’s mind about every little bit of information they might think is insignificant, but is not.”

In southwestern Pennsylvania, even perfect strangers know the basics of Cherrie’s story, which is rehashed every five years or so in newspapers and on TV news.

Cherrie, a third-grader, got off her school bus just after 4 p.m. The driver of a car saw her get off the bus and saw a blue or green van with a distinctive paint scheme nearby.

Because it was a nice day, Cherrie’s stepfather, LeRoy McKinney, told police he had let her walk a short distance home after he heard the bus. When she didn’t show up 10 minutes later, he said he went to the bus stop and saw tire prints — but no Cherrie.

Leads still surface

Bayer said the latest lead in the case came from someone who contacted the missing children’s center, claiming to know who may have owned a van like that at the time. Police were running down that information Monday; many similar leads in the past have turned into dead ends.

In the meantime, police and other agencies try to keep the case, and Cherrie’s face, in the public eye.

Early campaign subject

Many Americans have never heard of Advo Inc. But they know all about the white postcards the Windsor, Conn.-company sends out along with advertising circulars to some 85 million homes in its partnership with the FBI, the U.S. Postal Service and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Cherrie was the first child pictured on one of the company’s “Have You Seen Me?” cards, which have reunited 136 children with their families.

“We were honored by the Smithsonian Institution (at its U.S. Postal Museum) a year ago last October and Cherrie Mahan’s mom came because she’s so sold on our program,” said Advo spokeswoman Mary Lou Dlugolenski. “To have her be there to recognize our program, and yet Cherrie is still out there missing, of course it tugs at the heart strings.”

No answers

Cherrie’s grandmother, Shirley Mahan, 77, is the tax collector in nearby Clinton Township and plans to retire after her current term. She didn’t plan to run again before Cherrie disappeared, but is in her seventh term because she says the work has kept her mind off of Cherrie. When she’s not collecting taxes, she makes dish towels that she gives away as gifts, also to help keep her mind off Cherrie.

“I would just dearly like to know if she’s alive or dead,” Mahan said.