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St Irene's Knights of Columbus

St. Irene's Knights, Council 13848, focus on three areas within our families, our parish and our community: Spiritual Growth, Social Action, and Community Service.

Kids ID Project

Every day, children are lost in shopping centers, at amusement parks, on vacation and elsewhere. The most effective tool in recovering lost children is a recent photograph of the child, and an accurate description of the child. The most critical time are the first few hours following a disappearance.

In 1989, the recovery rate for missing children was only 66%. Today, the recovery rate is over 91%. You can help improve that rate.

There are several organizations working to help find missing children, and to protect children from Internet risks. Perhaps you have seen the local Amber Alert signs illuminated over Interstate 95 / Rt 128. (See the current Amber Alert status at the bottom of this page.) Perhaps you have heard about the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. But what can you really do? Who do you contact?

You can:

• Protect your children:
  
  
  • Teach your children what to do in case they are separated from you.
    
    
  • Teach your children what to do when they use the internet.
    
    
  • Teach them about the "Code Adam" sign posted at store and building entrances
    
    
  • Know which organizations participate in the Code Adam program
    
    
  • If your child is missing from home, immediately call your local police department. Use the 911 number.
    

  When you call the police, provide your child's name, date of birth, height, weight, and any other unique identifiers such as eyeglasses and braces. Tell them when you noticed that your child was missing and what clothing he or she was wearing.
  

  If your child is missing in a store, immediately notify the store manager or security office and then phone the police.
  
  
  Many stores and organizations have implemented the Code Adam program.

• Report information about a missing child sighting :
  
  
  • Call toll free 1-800-THE-LOST, 1-800-843-5678. Operators man the phones 24-hours per day.
    
    
  • Call the police.

Your local Knights of Columbus in St. Irene's parish and the Carlisle Police Association sponsored a Child Identification program at St. Irene's Parish Hall on Saturday, February 18, 2006. The purpose of this event was to ensure that parents have the vital information about their children should an emergency ever occur.

At this free event, parents were given a booklet to keep in a safe place. This booklet contains their child's photograph, their fingerprints, their dental record, and a DNA sample (a piece of their hair). A dentist and a dental hygienist prepared the dental record, and the Carlisle Police did the fingerprinting. Parents who did not have a current "portrait style" photo (e.g., a school yearbook type of photo), were provided one as part of this program.

This free program was open to all - it was not limited to St. Irene's parishioners, or to Carlisle residents.

Here are some Internet Links where you can obtain more information, as well as free publications that you can use to talk with your children.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) -

Code Adam - Named for six-year old Adam Walsh, a child abducted in 1981, it is one of the largest child safety programs in the US.

About Amber Alert - The voluntary partnership between police, broadcasters, and transportation agencies to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious abduction cases. America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response - named for a nine-year old Texas girl abducted in 1996. In May 2006 the US postal department will issue an "Amber Alert" stamp.

About The Amber Alert Web Notification System

• US Amber Alert - Abducted Children Alerts

• Canada Amber Alert - Abducted Children Alerts

The Knights of Columbus - World Wide

The following links provide information about the larger Knights of Columbus organization.

• Eight-page overview booklet (Adobe Acrobat file)

• Knights of Columbus web site

• "Why Join the Knights of Columbus?"

• "Knights of Columbus Activities"