ID Kitty peeks around the Christmas tree to say “Hello! Please fill my stocking with Good Cheer!”

He also hopes you may fill his stocking with some end-of-the-year donations for Project Jason, too!

Project Jason is a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization serving families of the missing across the U.S.

Unique services not available elsewhere include:

•   Come Home – we recruit homeless shelters to display missing persons posters in hopes someone seeking respite will be recognized.
•   18 Wheel Angels– We secure free ads, and create graphic concepts, for written narratives about missing individuals in monthly magazines read by tens of thousands of truck drivers.
•   Awareness Angels Network – Subscribers receive emails with missing persons posters and updates according to U.S. regions of their choice.
•   14,500 free personal ID kits have been given out in English and Spanish.
•   I.D. Kitty – a fuzzy life-size mascot who attends public events. He helps children have fun while learning about safety and receiving their ID kits.
•   Outreach to 3D Virtual Worlds – Project Jason disseminates posters to tens of thousands of people nationwide, and spreads awareness of the cause.
•   Healing Harbor – the only free online counseling service for families of the missing. The counselor, Duane Bowers, is one of the nation’s most respected specialists in emotional needs of families of missing.
•   Keys to Healing Retreat – a retreat specifically for families, regardless of age of their missing person. The retreat changes attitudes of family members – attendees depart feeling empowered to continue or start a search and are reminded how important it is to care for themselves.
•   Website forum – Case developments and article postings ensure that thousands of missing persons are not viewed as just a height and weight — readers come to understand who the person is and how much they are missed.
•   Free Law Enforcement DNA Training – Kelly Jolkowski hosts an audio training about DNA and how it is processed, featuring two renowned experts: Dr. Arthur Eisenberg, Director of the DNA Identity Laboratory, University of North Texas, and George Adams, the Missing Persons Coordinator with the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification.
•   Assistance with law enforcement training fees for several officers annually

We have an all-volunteer staff: not even I.D. Kitty draws a salary! All donations go directly toward services for the families of the missing, training, and printed safety materials. Your donation is fully tax deductible.

With your help, Project Jason and ID Kitty can make 2011 a better year for the families of  missing loved ones whom we serve.

To donate online, please visit  http://projectjason.org/help.shtml or mail a check or money order to Project Jason, PO Box 3032, Omaha, NE 68103.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Project Jason and ID Kitty.

http://sebastianstudy.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/second-life-a-first-glance-at-nonprofit-graphics/

Second Life: A First Glance at Nonprofit Graphics

AAUW displays corporate approach to signage.

AAUW (American Association of University Women) hits all the bases with outside and inside signage. Although not very imaginative, their communication is clear, crisp, identifiable and inspiring.

Kiva.org has signs that always provide orientation.

KIVA: Loans that Change Lives demonstrates a corporate design approach very effectively. Every view reinforces their identity and the viewer is never lost.

Project Jason expresses their mission visually.

PROJECT JASON: Assistance for Families of the Missing has a mysterious name so graphics become even more important to communicate mission. Very compelling in their portrayal of finding missing children, the visitor gets swept into awareness.

The more a viewer becomes engaged during a visit, the more inclined he or she is to drop a donation in the tip jar on the way out. The fundraising aspect of Second Life has only begun to be tapped. A much wider-reaching audience can augment the real life performance of these organizations. Graphics have a major role to play in compelling that audience to action.

Keep an eye out - they could be anywhere in the U.S.

Last update: July 21, 2010 - 8:29 PM

Cottage Grove police are asking for the public’s help to find a 14-year-old girl who apparently ran away with a registered sex offender with a violent criminal history.

Angela M. Tschida, whose nickname is Angi, was reported as a runaway to Cottage Grove police on July 2. Her disappearance appears to be voluntary, according to Capt. Pete Koerner of the Cottage Grove Police Department.

She is 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighs about 160 pounds, has blue eyes and blond-tinted brown hair, and has a pierced navel.

Police believe Tschida may have left Minnesota and may be accompanied by Alexius J. McMullin, 37. He has warrants for his arrest in both Washington and Hennepin counties. He also is a registered sex offender with convictions for violent crimes.

The Cottage Grove Police Department is working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other local and federal law enforcement agencies to locate the girl.

Anyone with information should contact Washington County Communications at 651-439-9381, Detective Tom Ueland at 651-458-6012, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

JIM ANDERSON

Wednesday, a girl was abducted from her home in Nebraska. Thursday, we put out a missing person poster in Second Life and on Facebook.

Follow-up: I received a thank you today on behalf of the family of the girl who was abducted Wednesday.

Thank YOU ALL for forwarding the missing person poster yesterday. The poster went totally viral, within SL and all over the internet.

She was found because someone saw the Amber Alert on the internet! She is now safe at home and the abductor is in custody.

Your assistance just may have brought a missing person home safely!

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-459401

Mom Hopes Age Progression Solves Caseof Missing Son

 

 

Report —

Can Age Progression Help Find Jason Jolkowski?

 

June 13, 2010 – OMAHA, NE – Sunday, June 13, marks nine years since the disappearance of an Omaha teen, and his family hopes an age progression photo and revamped poster will help lead to his whereabouts.

 

Jason Jolkowski was 19 when he vanished during an eight-block walk from his home to Benson High School in Omaha, Nebraska, the morning of June 13, 2001.

 

His credit cards, bank account, and cell phone remain untouched, his car was left in the repair shop and his last paycheck left at work. It is unlikely he ran away – he was excited about a new job and was close to his family. But there are still no clues as to what happened.

 

One in six missing persons is found as a result of a visual, so there is hope that an age progression created by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children will help.

“We are sure that someone, somewhere, knows something that could bring our family the answers we desperately need,” said Kelly Jolkowski, Jason’s mother, and the founder of nonprofit, Project Jason, which has since helped thousands of other families with missing loved ones.

 

“Enough time has now passed that perhaps someone will remember something, or someone will decide to do the right thing. It can be an anonymous call to the tip line – we don’t care how the information comes in. Just please help us by coming forward with what you know.”

 

Kelly Jolkowski was recently the recipient of the U.S. Justice Department’s 2010 Volunteer for Victims Award for her work helping other families of the missing

There is a reward offered for information that leads to finding Jason. If you have any information, no matter how small you think it is, call the Omaha Police Department at (402) 444-5818.

 

Or you can call anonymously to the Omaha CrimeStoppers at 402-444-STOP or to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) 24-hours a day.

 

Giant sized posters will be placed at the following locations beginning June 13:

 

Holy Name Church, 2901 Fontenelle Blvd.

 

St James Lake Park, 48th and Bedford

 

More information: http://projectjason.org/

http://www.ketv.com/news/23886053/detail.html

Jolkowski Family Makes New Push For Clues

OMAHA, Neb. – Family and friends of Jason Jolkowski said they planned to put up posters on Sunday to mark the ninth anniversary of the teen’s disappearance.

Jolkowski was last seen outside his Omaha home in 2001. Since then, his family has worked to help other families locate their missing children.

The family said it has created posters with age-progression pictures that it hopes will provide clues in the case.

Project Jason Keys to Healing Retreat 2009
Omaha, Nebraska

Trailer for documentary by Christina Fontana
Project Jason: A Voice for the Missing

What not to say - if you are law enforcement

Things you say early on during a disappearance could come back to bite you, bad. Make no mistake: some of the more callous things said by law enforcement, even when they weren’t intended to do harm, will be repeated for years to come as family members tell their stories.

Here are things you shouldn’t say to families of the missing. Most were said while an officer was taking the first report, or talking to the family in the early days of the disappearances. Some were said by officers later on.

ALL were actually said by law enforcement to family members whose loved ones are still missing to this day, years later. If you are going to be quoted for years to come, you may want to think about what that quote should look like.

Get Rid of any “Policies’ that Make People Have to Wait to File a Report

A number of states now have laws that guide LE to take missing adult or child reports right away so that precious early hours aren’t lost.

“We have a policy that you have to wait 24/48 hours to file a report” is considered old school these days. There is a reason that family member or friend or neighbor is there to file a report.

Go ahead and take the report, get the information in the system. Err on the side of caution rather than assume they’ll turn up; 105,000 of those cases have not turned up. Don’t let yours be one of those cases that goes cold just because you didn’t want to take the report right away.

The “What’s the Big Deal?” Category

Despite family and friends insisting that the person wouldn’t just up and leave, some officers don’t (or won’t) take the disappearance seriously, much to the distress of the family.

“He is probably in Mexico having margaritas with his friends.”

“She’ll be found when she wants to be found.”

“He’s an adult. It’s not a crime for him/he has a right to walk away from his life.”

“99 percent of them walk back in in a couple of days.”

When no body was found the comment “Oh, he just went off to start a new life.”

“When you find her she’s going to run away again.” (But there is no history of running away.)

There are no signs of foul play.” (This makes it sounds like an excuse to not investigate and it’s hurtful to families who are very fearful that something has happened because they know their loved one’s habits.)

“He couldn’t take the responsibility of his family, he needs a breather.”

Every Missing Person is Loved by Someone; Every Missing Person is Important

There’s almost no worse smack-down than implying their loved one is not important.

“So what, we have an average 4,000 missing per year in Los Angeles.”

“If your daughter is missing, it is not my fault, she had a choice.”

“We are not looking for your daughter/son/parent/sibling etc.”

“It’s not the crime of the century…why would we be looking for him?”

Help the Families With Guidance as to What They Can Do

They don’t need ridicule, they need help.

“It’s a waste of time putting up flyers.”

Be Considerate of the Family’s Feelings

“Be prepared that he went off to commit suicide.”

“We are not only investigating the abductor, we are investigating you as well.”

“Maybe he has a girlfriend he’s hiding out with” (said to his wife).

“Sometimes people on drugs jump off bridges” (said by a policeman to his wife while she stood holding her and her missing husband’s newborn baby).

Excuses, Excuses

More often than just the statements below indicate, officers sound downright lazy.

“If we get some free time we will send a K-9 unit out to look for him” like he meant nothing and was not a priority.

After all of his clothes but his pants were found it was “He probably had a few dollars in his pocket and walked across the border into (insert state or country here) .”

His pants were found the next day, LE said “He’s probably on a bender and will show up when he’s out of money.”

And the Winners Are…

“Maybe she just went somewhere and died.” Actual police statement to a mother with a missing daughter.

“Wow, this is just like on TV!” (Said by LE during an actual search.)

“You care about your son but no one else does.”

“She could have been abducted by aliens, I guess.”

“It is 5:00 and I don’t get paid after five.”

A Few More Tips

“Closure” is a word that jars most families of the missing. ”Resolution” is preferred.

If you are going to release a presumed deceased statement to the media, tell the family FIRST!

Copyright Denise Harrison 2010
All Rights Reserved.

What not to say - if you are family or friends

When someone disappears, those close to the family often don’t know what to say, so they say nothing. Some people say the wrong thing altogether. Here we will compile a list of things not to say, to help you not “step in it,” and help the family members avoid additional pain, unintended or not.

The “Get Over it” Bunch

“How long are you going to keep looking?” (Don’t ask this. Always let family members keep their hope. Most are not going to stop looking, so asking this question will make it clear that you don’t understand what they are going through.)

“It’s time to get on with your life.” (That and “Get over it” to me, reflect the speaker’s discomfort with the situation and not a real desire to help.)

“I hope you have a closure.” It’s a little-understood fact that the word “closure” shouldn’t be used. There really is no closure: often one answer leads to more questions; the pain is never going to go away, no matter, what; and life will never return to what it was. Some suggest “resolution” as a better term.

At Least…

At least you have other kids.”

“You have other children to take care of.”

“Well, At least the kids are with their mother/father.” (There is tremendous harm done to children in non-custodial parental abductions. To learn more, go to Take Root.

Don’t Chalk it up to Fate

“Everything happens for a reason.”

From a mom of a missing young lady: “The most hurtful came from a ‘friend’ who said explicitly that perhaps it was ‘karma’ - there was something I’d done to earn this hurt and only discovering it and making amends would bring her back! Like we don’t beat ourselves up enough!”

“She is in a better place.”

“We all have to go some day.”

Let’s Not Dictate What Another Person Should or Shouldn’t Think/Feel/Do

“You have to forgive him/her” (The perpetrator). This is quite hurtful. Best to let the person determine their own process in their own time and to their own individual outcome - forgiveness or not.

Don’t Blame the Victim

Just because someone lived a lifestyle that was out of the norm doesn’t mean they are any less loved, nor any more deserving of having gone missing. Perhaps it’s easier and less scary to think there is a reason someone disappeared or came to harm, but you have to remember: no one is immune, even you.

“As far as God striking people down for being nasty, then that probably is what happened to him/her.”

Watch What You Post Online

Please be mindful of what you post on message boards. Family members often read them in hopes of gaining leads:

“I heard from a reliable source that her daughter and daughter’s boyfriend were involved and that her body was found and she was pronounced dead. Can anyone prove any truth to this?”

“She should have stayed at home with the family that loves her so much and not been whoring around.”

“Maybe she just had to get away. Crackheads do that sometimes.”

“I just heard a rumor that the family is hiding her from the drug dealers and that they are trying to frame an innocent man for her disappearance. ”

“[Last names] are like the middle east. There are just some things the world would be much better off without. ”

Be careful about speculating out loud (verbally or online) any upsetting scenarios.

Psychics

If you are a psychic don’t contact the family. Contact the police.

You may think you are doing the kindest thing, but again, you should take these sorts of things to the police, not the families of the missing. Don’t drag them into what you perceive to be real visions. Some mentally cannot handle it. Psychics contacting the family are considered by many family members to be re-victimizing those living with this loss.

Copyright Denise Harrison 2010
All Rights Reserved.