NEWS RELEASE
PORCUPINE MASONIC LODGE
What could Masons and the Amber Alert possibly have in common? MASONICh.I.P
On Saturday September 20, the Porcupine Masonic Lodge will be hosting a MASONICH.I.P. event at the Whitney Arena Hall in Porcupine.
Volunteer Masons, Police Officers from the Timmins Police Service and two area dentists will be on hand to further the safety of area children.
No parent wants to believe that the unimaginable could happen to them, though nearly 55 children are reported missing to Police in Ontario every day (164 every day in Canada).
According to Canada’s “Our Missing Children” network and “Ontario Child Find” a, current good quality photo is the single most effective tool in locating a missing child.
These programs encourage parents to be prepared by assembling their child's photos and vital information ahead of time.
Enter MASONICh.I.P Ontario (Child Identification Program) – deemed “one of the most comprehensive child recovery and identification programs in the nation by The National Center for Exploited and Missing Children brought exclusively to Ontario families by dedicated Masons free of charge.
Sponsored by the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario, the MASONICh.I.P Program consists of five major components – digital photographs; digital video; digital fingerprints; vital child information; and a dental bite impression or Intra Oral Swab for DNA.
The photographs video, fingerprints, and child data are burned onto a C.D. that is compatible with Amber Alert.
The dental impression provides a virtual diagram of the child's biting surface, which, like fingerprints, are unique to each individual and further supplies saliva to provide a DNA sample.
Combined, this five part process provides a dramatic, time sensitive recovery tool for authorities.
Parents are urged to gather pertinent information about their child prior to the event such as, an emergency contact name, address and phone numbers, distinguishing marks and scars, allergies, medications, and parents work, cell and other phone numbers and the child's height and weight.
Security and privacy are of utmost importance.
All information and specimens are collected on site, processed, and provided to the parent or guardian in an envelope – along with the sentiment of all the Masonic volunteers – “We hope you never need to use it.”
After each child is processed, the data is deleted and erased from the computer using state of the art software.
The only item retained by MASONICh.I.P Ontario is the signed permission slip.
The Masonic brethren of Ontario, and their volunteers, are pleased to offer this program to our communities free of charge.
For further information on MASONICh.I.P Ontario or to learn of other future MASONICh.I.P events please contact: MASONICh.I.P Ontario Program Director Rob Fleming at 705-682-4775 or by email [email protected] or www.masonichip.ca.
Sponsoring Masonic Lodge: Porcupine Lodge No. 506
Event Date: September 20, 2014 from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Even Location: Whitney Arena Hall, 4969 Highway 101 East, Porcupine, Ontario
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