The Missing Child Project is doing something the families of missing children cannot do for themselves, and at no cost to the families. We are on a mission to place a sign in highly trafficked public places and to create a club in every high school in the state of Florida – and then the United States – to aid in the search for missing children.
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Hello and welcome to The Missing Child Project.
I started this effort years ago when I was a baseball pitcher in the minor leagues, throwing the ball as hard as I could and trying to work my way up through the Chicago Cubs’ farm system to Wrigley Field. One off-season, I watched a documentary about a mother’s and father’s effort to spread the word about their missing daughter. I realized the stadiums in which we played weren’t just filled with sports fans–these were the teachers, coaches, families, classmates, and friends of missing children that would readily join in the search if they could. That moment inspired me to start The BairFind Foundation, which has now become known as The Missing Child Project.
Since that day, we’ve partnered with Minor League Baseball to place photos of thousands of our nation’s missing kids in front of literally tens of millions of Americans in stadiums and arenas across the country at no cost to the families. We have recently expanded our program to include high school clubs, with our stadium signs placed in schools and students earning volunteer hours to join the search via social media and in their communities. Every glance at one of these photos is another opportunity for a child to be reunited with his or her family. Our success is measured by the countless stories of children that we’ve featured who have been safely located, and we’ve only just begun.
Thank you, it is a pleasure to have you visit our website – and we hope you’ll join us.
Sincerely,
Dennis J. Bair
Through Minor League Baseball’s relationship with the BairFind Foundation, our ballparks can in one more way serve as a resource to their communities — to help find missing kids. We welcome the BairFind Foundation to the MiLB family as a Homegrown Charity Partner and with the assistance of our clubs and fans hope to play a small part in bringing more children home to their families.
Pat O’Conner, President & CEO of Minor League Baseball
My nephew, Mark Degner disappeared at 12 years old. One of the hardest things for a family with a missing child is to keep their photo in public view. Thanks to BairFind, Mark's photo is now on several stadium concourse signs in front of thousands of fans nightly, at no cost to our family.
Angela Campbell, Business Manager, Jacksonville Financial News & Daily Record
BairFind is the evolution from the milk carton campaign of the 1970s and ‘80’s that featured pictures of missing children.
Ray Glier, USA Today
I’ve been a baseball executive for more than fifty years, and I’ve never seen a program come along that is more worthy of support than BairFind. The fans in our ballparks love it. They come through the gate, walk right up to the signs, and want to know who these kids are. When a ‘FOUND’ sticker goes up, they imagine that it could have been one of them that made the call. It’s just an overall sense of well-being and positive effort each time. There should be one of these signs in every sports venue in America, and I want to help make that happen.
Lee Landers, President, Appalachian League
The power of Bair’s photos should not be underestimated.
Michael O’Keefe, NY Daily News
What an outstanding program with so little effort on our part but such amazing results! Keep up the good work!
John Timberlake, Director of Florida Operations, Philadelphia Phillies
Thank you so much for creating this program and for featuring my daughter. Our whole family is honored that you chose her photo to place on your signs.
Elizabeth Harris, Mother of Roxanne Paltauf, featured on our signs with the Las Vegas 51s, El Paso Chihuahuas, Midland RockHounds and Frisco RoughRiders
Thank you for your efforts in finding my little sister.
Critter Schell, Sister of Karissa Schell, featured on our signs with the Fresno Grizzlies, Las Vegas 51s, and San Jose Giants
We didn’t know what else to do as a family to get my sister’s photo out there, but this is a new way to raise awareness and let people know that we are still very active in the search to bring her home. Thank you, and please keep her photo on your sign in the stadium. We love this program, it’s exactly what we need and our family is energized.
Annabeth Hamm, Sister of Adrianna Garcia, featured on our sign with the Tulsa Drillers
You are a great organization, and we look forward to working with you again next season!
Betsy Haugh, General Manager, Pulaski Yankees, Rawlings 2018 Woman Executive of the Year
It’s such a good idea. I never realized that all of those people (in the basketball arenas) could be helping to find missing children. It’s a big audience to appeal to. There’s so much traffic in and out of those stadiums. It’s just brilliant.
Kayla Stewart, ABC News Anchor, Fort Wayne, IN
That is awesome news! It brought a smile to my face last night when I received your email. I am amazed at how many kids stand and observe the signage. When we held our Education Day last week I was really impressed how many kids actually stopped to read the information.
Larry Hawkins, General Manager, Asheville Tourists
Absolutely fantastic! Wonderful news! This is the most heartwarming moment of the year for our front office staff, we’ve been smiling and hugging and high-fiving all day. My husband and I want to send you a donation. Go BairFind!
Jane Rogers, General Manager, Staten Island Yankees
Great job. I love this program and am proud the FSL has helped locate a number of these kids. What a great program. Great job everyone! Outstanding!
Ken Carson, President, Florida State League
I have always loved service. The feeling of giving back gives me so much joy, even if it’s something small – like holding the door open for someone whose hands are full. Cory Udel, someone that I met when I was very young, started a club at his high school that used social media as a platform to help find missing teens. My mother introduced me to this club, and with my schedule, I didn’t think that I was able to do it as I was juggling so many things. The club seemed very interesting, but I knew I would have been swamped if I added anything else to my plate. Little did I know that this club was the perfect thing for me! A great thing about The Missing Child Project is that you can put as little or as much energy as possible into it, whether it’s throwing a fundraiser or hanging up a poster with missing children. That is why I started the club – for a good cause and its flexibility.
Becca Snyder, President, Titusville High School “Missing Child Project” Club
The reality of the world we live in is that more children have gone missing as a result of Covid-19. The new chapter of the Missing Child Project that you create can help lead to a tip that saves a missing child. If you are unable to create a chapter at this moment, please share this cause with people who can, because a simple act such as telling a friend about our cause can set off a chain of events that helps save a missing child. In other words, we need everybody’s help.
Corey Udell, Creator of the first “Missing Child Project” Club
I am glad we could help and be a partner, we have the board placed right behind home plate on our concourse. I am even more excited to hear that one of our featured kids was found. We strive to make a difference in Grand Junction and this goes to show that the partnership we have with The BairFind Foundation and MiLB is already working.
Joe Kubly, President, Grand Junction Rockies
Great news! Thanks for keeping us updated on the good news about the children found in the Biloxi and Birmingham areas recently! So happy for these families!
Lori Webb, President, Southern League
That’s such good news! We are happy to do whatever we can to help. Looking forward to placing that decal!
Becca Holtgreive, Director of Community Relations, Carolina Mudcats
This is awesome news! Such a fantastic program. Keep up the great work that you and your foundation are doing. I just love hearing that a child is found. So glad you started this program!
Laura LeCras, Secretary, Florida State League
CSI Gerardo Bloise to donate proceeds of his book to The Missing Child Project.
CSI Gerardo Bloise was the lead investigator on the Casey Anthony child murder case. Wanting the public to see the factual results of the case, his book is written so that the reader feels like they are a member of the investigative team witnessing the evidence revealed from the first call to the scene by call sign “Forensic 7″. We are honored that a man of his knowledge and experience chose The Missing Child Projectto donate a portion of the proceeds from his book.
To learn more, read our blog post.
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– The Talmud, the Book of Jewish Law.