The Green Bay Packers are teaming up with the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin (PFFW) for the Safety Blitz project, aimed at helping protect Wisconsin school children by providing over 900,000 Child ID Kits to Kindergarten through 12th grade students.
The distribution of the Child ID Kits, which was first announced by the Packers and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) at the Packers-Lions game last December, will begin in the fall of 2015.
To support the project, the PFFW will start the statewide "Fill the Helmet" campaign early this summer, which will help raise funds and awareness about the Safety Blitz.
"Firefighters are highly respected in our communities and their help is always just a phone call away," said Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy. "We are honored that they have teamed up with us to help lead the effort protecting children in this great state."
"The PFFW is grateful for the opportunity to partner with the Green Bay Packers on this important initiative to protect Wisconsin's Children," said Mahlon Mitchell, president of the PFFW. "Our members are committed to protecting our communities and our citizens from harm, and this effort is an important step in doing so."
The Child ID Kit includes an inkless fingerprint card, a DNA collection swab and cut-out wallet card. It will allow parents and guardians to easily record pertinent personal information about their child. The kit is stored at home in a safe place and would be handed over and used by law enforcement authorities in the case of a missing child.
The PFFW represents the professional interests of over 4,000 members serving more than 60 local affiliates that protect nearly 100 local communities across the state of Wisconsin.
The National Child Identification Program is a community-service initiative dedicated to providing parents and guardians with a tool they can use to help protect their children. Launched by the AFCA in 1997 with a goal of fingerprinting 20 million children, the program has exceeded expectations with more than 38 million kits being distributed making it the largest child identification effort ever conducted. In 2005 Nekoosa Coated Paper became the exclusive provider of fingerprint materials for the Child ID Program.
