Complete child identification package offered at ByronFest

BYRON – Byron Lodge #274 will sponsor a CHIP event during ByronFest on Saturday July 11 at the Byron police department garage on Washington and 2nd from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Masons of Illinois, who fund the entire cost of IL CHIP, put together everything parents need to help the authorities find their lost child. It is the most comprehensive program of its kind … and is free of charge to parents.

Best of all, it only takes ten minutes and supplies parents with a complete child identification package that can be taken home or carried with the family on vacation. The information, most of which is contained on a CD, is compact and totally private. The IL CHIP program keeps only the parental permission form!

Here’s what parents get:

Color Photo that records image and height and is digitized on a convenient CD that can be easily circulated by police to the media and distributed across the State within an hour via Illinois’ Amber Alert Program.

DNA Sample taken through a saliva cheek swab is the latest tool in the scientific arsenal to make positive identifications of lost children.

Fingerprints are the oldest form of positive identification since they are unique to every person.

Recorded Interview captures on the same CD as the picture the appearance, speech patterns, personal characteristics, and mannerisms for easy media distribution.

“The Illinois CHIP program has been adapted for Illinois from a successful program begun in 1994 by Freemasons in New York. Today, members of the Masonic Fraternity in 30 states have similar programs to help parents and young families,” Byron Lodge #274 Master Gerald Zeibert explained. “We hope Byron parents will take advantage of the program.”

Byron Masons fingerprint a child during a previous CHIP child identification program.