The Missing Child Project News:

Expansion of The MCP High School Clubs

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The MCP Clubs Are Expanding...

From One to Seven!

Our high school clubs started a few years ago when Corey Udell, a student and baseball player at Ponte Vedra High School in Florida, met the aunt of a missing boy. The boy is Mark Degner, and his aunt is Angie Campbell, one of our board members. When Angie explained that her nephew was a missing child, Corey said, “There wasn’t anything I could say, but there was something I could do.” He took one of our stadium signs with Mark’s profile on it, and placed it in his school. He wanted to generate leads and tips in the search for the missing kids featured on the sign, and he thought his fellow Ponte Vedra Sharks could help, too. He recruited all of his teammates, and several of his friends, to join his club.

Fast forward to this fall – Corey's vision of expanding his club to high schools around the country is beginning to take shape this school year. The Missing Child Project now has clubs in seven high schools in north Florida! In addition to Ponte Vedra HS (where the club is stronger than ever), we now have clubs in Fletcher HS, Creekside HS, Providence HS, Mandarin HS, Nease HS, and our newest addition is Beachside HS.

Each club purchases a 3x5 banner for their school featuring kids that are missing from their area, and surrounding counties. Club members earn volunteer hours by generating leads and tips in the search for their featured kids via social media, participating in fundraisers, and educating their peers on alternatives to running away, and the warning signs of online child trafficking. (All with materials provided by The MCP, of course). We also update them on the status of their featured kids all year long, to alert them when a child has been safely located!

The First "Meetup at the Ballpark" was a Success!

Thanks to the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp front office staff for their awesome support for the Meetup. It was a stormy afternoon with the tarp on the field, but we found dry ground to hold our meeting.

Several partners were recognized including The Jacksonville Jumbo Shimp, The Iowa Cubs, Zelen Risk Insurance, and Ponte Vedra High School.

Members of the newly formed high school clubs were in attendance.

After announcing the newly expanded MCP Clubs, we turned our attention to the field as Board Member Angela Campbell, who represented families of missing children, performed a Ceremonial First Pitch.

A special thank you to the crew at Kennetic Productions. They were there to film for us a promotional video, and they interviewed several of our club members.

The Daytona Tortugas and Tortugas Care Foundation

The Daytona Tortugas and the Tortugas Care Foundation, led by Bob Fregolle and Jim Jaworski, have been partners with The Missing Child Project since the inception of the program.

Our founder, Dennis Bair had pitched for the team when they were the Daytona Cubs and approached them to place a photo inset of a missing child in the team posters.

Later, the team proposed using a spare wooden A-Frame for the profiles as it enabled the ability to feature more missing children. Every person entering the ballpark passed by the sign on the concourse.

Florida State League President Chuck Murphy encouraged all FSL teams in Florida to adopt the wooden signs as did the Southern League, New York Penn League, and South Atlantic League. The sign became the model for the program.

Press Release

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