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Jodi Lundmark, tbnewswatch.com
Regional coordinator Dean Botchar says the program helps protect children and people at risk.
The MasoniCh.I.P. program has documented almost 50,000 individuals in Ontario.
The local Mason chapter is hoping the 50,000th person documented is in Thunder Bay this weekend at the next local Ch.I.P. clinic at the Fall into Winter Show at the Sports Dome.
The program assembles an identification kit for children and adults with dementia or Alzheimer’s in case they go missing, The kit includes digital fingerprints, still photos, a short video, a DNA swab, dental impressions and basic information.
“All of that data is put on a CD and given to the parent and/or guardian of the individual. In the event of a tragedy where a child is missing or a person is missing, they can hand this to the police,” said regional coordinator Dean Botchar.
“They put it in and within minutes they can have an alert out.”
Botchar said the biggest concern they hear from parents considering a kit for their child is who is going to have this data.
“The important part to know is we do not keep anything,” he said. “The programs are cleared immediately after the CD is completed.”
The Ch.I.P. program is protection for children and people at risk and Botchar said they have fun doing it and get to meet a lot of people.
The Masons enjoying running the program. They offer it for free, but it does cost them money to operate it.
They’ve made an application to the Aviva Community Fund so they can purchase more computers and equipment to run Ch.I.P. in Northwestern Ontario. The first round of voting starts Oct. 1 at www.avivacommunityfund.org.
The clinics this weekend will be held on Sept. 28 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sept. 29 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sept. 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sports Dome.