National eVolunteer force operates online and in their communities.
Petaluma, CA (PRWEB) July 18, 2006 -- The Polly Klaas® Foundation, www.pollyklaas.org, today announced a nation-wide eVolunteer program to distribute posters of missing children.
When a child goes missing, Rapid Response Team eVolunteers receive an email linked to a poster created by the Polly Klaas® Foundation. eVolunteers print the missing child posters and distribute them throughout their communities.
The entire eVolunteer program is managed online. Interested volunteers register online at: http://ga0.org/campaign/rapid_response_team_registration.
Registered eVolunteers then receive an email with links to download the eVolunteer Guide and sign-up for the members only listserve. They receive approximately 10 emails a month with links to posters of missing children. Each eVolunteer decides which posters they will print and distribute in their community, and the amount of time they can donate to the program.
One enthusiastic Rapid Response Team member from Oklahoma reports, “I have posted mine at convenience stores, Wal-mart, pawn shops, used car dealers, beauty shops, barber shops. Places that I think someone would maybe take a child to change their appearance or purchase them clothing. The Goodwill. The Dollar Stores. Used car dealers in case they are needing to change cars quickly…This along with the usual grocery store, Wal-mart, post office etc."
Additional Rapid Response Team comments are available at: http://www.pollyklaas.org/evolunteer/evolunteers-speak.html
“We email Rapid Response Team members the same day a missing child’s picture is posted on our website http://www.pollyklaas.org/missing/index.html ,” said Robert De Leo, Executive Director. “We could never have implemented this nationwide program if we had to deal with the lag time to print posters, address and mail them to individual volunteers. Additionally, Rapid Response Team members are notified that a child is found the same day we receive the happy news.”
The greatest value of having posters of missing children distributed to communities across the country is that kidnappers often go across state lines. Children can be found in the city they went missing from, or on the other side of the continent. A case report of a child found through poster distribution can be found at: http://www.pollyklaas.org/evolunteer/case-report-james.html .
The establishment of this national eVolunteer force to help find missing children speaks to the heart of the Foundation, which grew from the volunteers who gathered to search for 12-year-old Polly Klaas when she was abducted from her home in Petaluma, CA in 1993. Even before that search ended tragically, families were calling the search center asking for help in finding their children.
The Rapid Response Team is currently limited to eVolunteers who are located in the United States. In the future, the Polly Klaas® Foundation is planning programs for eVolunteers throughout the world, and is encouraged by the enthusiasm of people around the world to help find missing children.
About the Polly Klaas® Foundation:
Founded in 1993 following the abduction and murder of Polly Klaas, the Polly Klaas® Foundation is a national nonprofit that helps find missing children, prevents them from going missing, and promotes laws like Amber Alert that help keep children safe. The Foundation has eVolunteers who distribute posters of missing children in their communities http://www.pollyklaas.org/evolunteer/ and provides abduction prevention information to parents with its highly respected Child Safety Kit http://ga0.org/campaign/PKF_website_child_safety_kit , and its forthcoming Internet Safety Kit http://ga0.org/campaign/internet_safety_kit.
In 2002-2004 the Foundation and its online membership spearheaded the effort to establish Amber Alerts in all 50 states and nationally. The Foundation’s professional caseworkers have helped more than 6,500 families reunite with their children.
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