First lady promotes program to help kids

WASHINGTON — Melania Trump is going on the road to promote her “Be Best” campaign to help children.

The first lady planned to advocate for her campaign Tuesday in Tennessee during a visit to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville on what will be her first domestic trip to highlight the initiative. Mrs. Trump was participating in a discussion about babies who are born dependent on drugs, tour a neonatal intensive care unit and visit with patients.

She has done little personally to publicize the campaign around the country since she unveiled it at the White House in May.

A week after the announcement, the first lady was hospitalized for kidney surgery, stayed five nights, then spent several weeks out of the spotlight recuperating before resuming a public schedule. She has since made two trips to the U.S.-Mexico border to meet with adults and children affected by the president’s policy of separating migrant families who cross into the U.S. illegally.

The first lady did promote “Be Best,” which focuses on children’s well-being, social media use and opioid abuse, when she accompanied the president to London this month. She has also discussed it with a group of students at Microsoft’s Innovation and Policy Center last week in the Washington area who help the computer software maker with its work on youth-centered online safety. Being good citizens online is one focus of the first lady’s campaign, though her husband is routinely criticized for using Twitter against his foes.