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Missing People: Billboards that Walk and Talk!

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 11 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

Ranked #276 in Volunteering, #43108 overall

Donates to Polly Klaas Foundation

Rated G. (Control what you see)

What if you had a 1000 billboards?

 


  • What if there was a way to get 100s even 1000s of photos of a missing child out into the community, overnight?

  • What if those photos were on living, breathing...TALKING people instead of telephone poles?

  • What if those photo buttons broke the ice and started conversations around town?

What if just one child was found because of a simple photo button?

NEW! Polly Klass Foundation partners with Buttons of Hope 

The Polly Klaas Foundation is dedicated to the safety of all children through:

Educating and empowering children, parents, and communities so that children do not become victims and by supporting programs which build self-reliance and emergency skills without fear.

Responding to child abductions and missing children by using our expertise and techniques to assist families, other agencies, and law enforcement in the rapid response and rapid recovery of abducted children.

Working with elected officials and government agencies to inform and educate the public in order to effect changes which will ensure that children can be safe in their own homes and communities.

Polly Klaas Foundation - Buttons of Hope

Kristen Foundation partners with Buttons of Hope 

NEW!

Thank you for visiting the Kristen Foundation website. Through the sharing of information and resources, the Kristen Foundation hopes to help reunite families with their missing loved ones. Started in 1999 by Joan Petruski, the Kristen Foundation is dedicated to the safe return of missing and abducted adults everywhere.

Home: The Kristen Foundation

The Polly Klaas Foundation 

Making America Safe for All Children

Polly Klaas Foundation
The Polly Klaas® Foundation is a national nonprofit that helps find missing children, prevents children from going missing, and promotes laws like Amber Alert that help keep children safe.

We have helped more than 6,500 families of missing children, counseling them on ways to find their children and work with law enforcement. We make and distribute posters of missing children for these families, and have a national eVolunteer force that distributes posters of missing children in their communities. Our hotline has been answered 24/7 since 1993.
Polly Klaas on Squidoo
Kaye Swafford talks about the life or death work of the Polly Klaas Foundation

...Frantic parents and law enforcement officials calling our hotline reach caseworkers 24 hours a day; 7 days a week; 365 days a year. Initial phone calls with parents average an hour, with numerous follow-up calls. We counsel parents on ways to search for their children, offer poster faxing services to parents and police, forward leads to law enforcement officials, and send out missing child flyers when appropriate.(more)

Fast Leads and Awareness are Vital! 

Photo buttons can help!

Buttons of Hope
It was my idea (still is) to help people with their fundraising...

BUT NOW there is an added more urgent role for theses little buttons!

What if RIGHT AT THE START OF THE SEARCH we could have 100s maybe 1000s of people walking around with the missing child's face on their shirt, on their purse, on their bookbag at the Starbucks, Walmart, restaurants, gas stations, sporting events etc.

For example...let's say you go in for an oil change wearing the button and the mechanic seeing the button says, "You know I think I saw that child in here earlier today with a man who had a flat tire."

PHOTO BUTTONS start conversations -- that generate vital early leads!

Buttons of Hope is prepared to make and ship photo buttons immediately -- and since each person orders their own there are no distribution delays! No minimums, no hassles!

We will help the family set up an on line gallery at the Buttons of Hope website with the child's picture so that anyone can go to the website and order a button to wear. Simply advertise the website address like you would the hotline phone number!

To help JUMPSTART the effort Buttons of Hope will donate 12 buttons overnighted free to the family and in addition $1 from each button will be donated to the family or search efforts at the family's discretion.

Music to help! 

I always loved this song and powerful video!

Soul Asylum- Runaway Train

Song.

Runtime: 4:31
1850340 views
10 Comments:

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So what do I know? Michael Gibbons' Behind the Button blog 

Inspired stories about the people behind the photo buttons we make & some thoughts on fundraising & charities from the founder of Buttons of Hope.

Make a button and share your hero story and I will write all about it in my Behind the Button blog!

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What do you think about photo buttons as personal billboards? 

Would you wear one?

eccles1

Keep up the great work!!

Posted September 07, 2008

SemperFidelis

Billboards That Walk and Talk...You've got a great lens on a great cause! Thanks for joining the For The Good Of Squidoo group. 5* :o)

Posted January 14, 2008

Kaye_Swafford

Michael,
Thanks so much for joining us in this important work at the Polly Klaas Foundation. Kaye

Posted October 08, 2007

Kaye_Swafford

Michael,
Thanks so much for joining us in this important work at the Polly Klaas Foundation. Kaye

Posted October 08, 2007

greenwebdesign

Kudos to you! I have a lense for missing persons too:
www.squidoo.com/missingpersons

Check out some other sites I have for the Missing:
www.50statesclassifieds.com/Classifieds/MissingPersons.php
www.myspace.com/onlineclassifieds

Posted July 18, 2007

 
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michaelgibbons

About michaelgibbons

"A year ago Mike Gibbons had never done any fund-raising. Now he hopes
to change the world"
Regan White in "Message in a Button", Charlotte Weekly November 2006.

Upon reading that I was at first taken aback -- not exactly the kind of thing you want to lead with especially if your stated goal is to "change the face of fundraising". But as I thought about it IT IS PRECISELY what I want people to know and now I open all of my fundraising seminars with that line.

Fundraising is not easy nor is it as hard as you might think. I am proof of that and I am out to help ordinary people do extraordinary things -- the task is not easy but the answer is inside of each of us!

I kinda wish Regan had use this opening line instead.. 

"Here's to the crazy ones...because the people who are crazy enough to THINK they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Maybe the combination of the two sums it up -- I have been lucky enough to find a group of remarkable people, my cycling team MojoRiding and together we have become somewhat of a fund raising phenomenon (often in spite of ourselves I might add!) --we raised over $110,000 in 2007 for cancer and multiple sclerosis causes.

So how did we do it? We personalized our cause, we told a story, many stories! And then we took it a step further we made it tangible -- many of us made photo buttons of our loved ones to wear while fundraising -- can't fully explain it but there is just something powerful about these little buttons  --I have seen it make a difference and in some cases all the difference!

I hope you will take a look around (grab a cup of coffee) at what I am building here on Squidoo. I have tried to make unique, useful and updated lenses on active charity events. If you like the lenses then please visit my blog Behind the Button and of course my website Buttons of Hope -- where you too can go on make a custom photo button to wear in YOUR charity event 

The title of the full quote above is THINK DIFFERENT. Regan was right I am out to Change the World by helping people to not only think different but to be different -- it will change you and together we will be the change we wish to see...I hope one button at a time!

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