The first Road Home poster is unveiled in honor of National Missing Children’s Day. Shown are Dave Shapiro of the NCMEC, Dave Nemo and Dale Schueffner of Northland Insurance.
The Dave Nemo Radio Network is calling on truck drivers to help locate missing children through the re-launch of program called The Road Home – Truckers Helping Children Find The Way.
“Every day in the United States, nearly 2,000 children are reported missing,” said radio personality Dave Nemo. “Many kids are found quickly, but unfortunately many others aren’t. “Truck drivers and the trucking industry as a whole want to help get these kids back home.”
The Road Home program, co-sponsored by Rand McNally and Northland Insurance, revolves around a poster campaign featuring the pictures of missing children. The first of the 2-foot by 3-foot self-adhesive posters was placed on the back of a tractor-trailer owned by E.F. Thompson Inc. in Alexandria, Va., in May. Officials from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which is headquartered in Alexandria, were on hand for the poster unveiling.
Gary Thompson, president of the trucking company, which is contracted to haul U.S. mail, said he plans to put posters of missing children on all 125 trailers he owns. “Our trucks drive along the I-95 corridor, and it’s a six-lane interstate that runs around Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia,” Thompson said. “Thousands of people are going to see the back of one truck. Then, if you multiply that by 125, those are big numbers.”
Ernie Allen, NCMEC president, said truckers can play an important role in helping find missing children.
“We believe truckers are the eyes and ears of the roadways,” Allen said. “Trucking is a 24-hour operation, 365 days a week. Truckers are out there moving from community to community. Truckers see people on the move. If truckers see something suspicious, we want them to call our hotline. We also want to send the message to the public to look at these pictures on the posters. It only takes a couple of seconds to look at each picture, but it can make all the difference in the world in helping locate a missing child.”
In addition to the picture and vital information about the missing child, each poster also carries NCMEC’s toll-free hotline number – 1-800-The-Lost. Road Home organizers are asking for a voluntary $25 donation for each trailer-door poster.
Another part of the program is a four-color vinyl Road Home logo truck door sticker for a donation of $10. Included with the sticker are the Knowing My 8 Rules of Safety brochure about ongoing safety practices for children and Child Safety on the Information Highway pamphlet – both published by the NCMEC.
For more information about The Road Home program, contact the Dave Nemo Radio Network by phone at (513) 531-9655, via e-mail at [email protected] or visit the website at www.davenemonetwork.com.
