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According to the U. S. Department of Justice, each year more than 450,000 children run away; 350,000 are abducted by family members and more than 4,600 children are abducted by nonfamily members. Those numbers add up to over 800,000 children in America missing each year--one child every 40 seconds.
 Southern Pine cares about the people and the communities it serves. That's why Southern Pine and other Touchstone Energy Cooperatives across the nation have joined with the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as sponsors of the National Child Identification Program. This program is the largest child identification effort ever conducted, with a goal of fingerprinting all 60 million children in the United States.
The kits contain a unique inkless fingerprinting system that allows parents and guardians to fingerprint their own children at home with no mess. The enclosed card provides spaces for the printing of all ten fingers, along with pertinent information such as name, sex, race, weight, hair and eye color, date and place of birth, and an area for recording any distinguishing birthmarks, moles, scars, broken bones or prosthetics.
Southern Pine has distributed these kits, free of charge, to K-4 through 2nd graders in all local schools within the co-op's general service area. With the kind help of the Escambia County Sheriff's Department, the co-op has provided professionals to fingerprint children in attendance at the Southern Pine Annual Membership Meeting held on the Saturday before Labor Day at W. S. Neal High School in East Brewton, Ala.
 For more information on this program, contact the Communications Department of Southern Pine at 251.867.5415 or via email at mharrison@southernpine.org.
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