On Saturday, September 10, the Connecticut Freemasons, in partnership with Casey Family Services and Mi Casa Community Center, will host a Free Back-to-School Event and Child Identification Program (CHIP) at Mi Casa Community Center from 10am to 4pm 590 Park Street, Hartford.

The event is designed to provide free school supplies to children of all ages, while enrolling them in the child identity protection program known as CHIP. Backpacks filled with school supplies will be distributed to the first 500 children who participate. This is the third year that Casey Family Services has co-sponsored the CHIP program, offering parents and families a measure of protection against the problem of missing children.

Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez has attended and supported the CHIP event for the past two years and has plans to attend in 2005. “The CHIP program is vital to the safety of our youngest citizens,” he says. “It speaks to the heart of our city, diversity and families.”

“In the past two years, we’ve processed more than 500 children,” says Glynis Cassis, Hartford Division director for Casey Family Services. “We want to reach out to as many children and families as possible so that they can take advantage of this free program.”

There are more than one million children reported missing in the U.S. each year. The CHIP program consists of four major components: a brief videotaped interview with a child, a digital still photograph, fingerprinting, and dental bite impressions, all of which are critically important in resolving child abduction cases.

The Back-to-School event is free and will be open to all Greater Hartford area families, including families served by Casey and the Mi Casa Community Center members. “We are very pleased to bring this program to Hartford families for a third year,” said Raymond L. Torres, executive director of Casey Family Services. “We hope to provide much-needed school supplies and also a level of protection for the more vulnerable children and families in the community.”

The Freemasons, the oldest fraternal organization in the world, initiated the CHIP program in 1994. Today, it is the most comprehensive child identification and recovery program in the United States.

Established by UPS founder Jim Casey in 1976, Casey Family Services offers a broad range of programs for more than 4,000 vulnerable children and families throughout the Northeast and in Baltimore, Maryland. The direct service arm of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Casey Family Services operates from administrative headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut and delivers programs through eight divisions in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

For more information about the CHIP program or to volunteer at the event, please contact Juan Gonzalez at Casey Family Services at 860.727.1030.