California Lodge #1's Child ID Program
Every year in the United States over 800,000 children are abducted or go missing.
Most of the missing are runaways and, thankfully, most of the missing are successfully returned home to their parents.
Under Leadership of the Worshipful Master Ben Ruhs, California Lodge #1 decided to follow Grand Lodge's lead in taking part in a Child ID program to minimize the number of those who do not return home. In May 2004, California #1 developed it's own program and acquired it's own Child ID equipment to produce ID's of children that their parents can carry with them. This gives the parents a critical tool once they know their child has gone missing. Should the child be missing at a mall, for instance, the parent can immediately give mall security the ID card and they can begin searching for the child immediately. Once the police arrive, this card can also then be given to the parent. This avoids the dilemma the parents face, of having to go home and obtain the materials and then return to the place where it was first noticed the child was missing.
The child ID's have critical information on not only what the child looks like, what features they have, and other identifying marks, but also contains information on medical conditions, a thumb print, photo, age, and contact information for the parents.
The program is set up to be as respectful of the children's privacy as possible. The information is hand written on the cards by the children's parents, the camera uses Polaroid film and the thumbprint is put only onto the card that the parents carry away with them. California Lodge does not retain any of the information that the parents put on the ID's.
If you would like more information on California Lodge #1's Child ID Program, please contact the chairman of the Child ID program via email at oberquell@sanjose.com
See below for links to some of our past events:
Holiday Party 2004. Sorry, we have no photos of the Holiday Event where we offered Child ID's to the children that came to the party at the Lodge Building. However, we were able to serve approximately 40 children.