January Volume No. 18 Issue No. 1 National Center for Missing & Exploited Children-NY/Mohawk Valley MAY 16 THE RIDE2014 www.therideformissingchildren.com First Year Rider Meeting from 6:15 - 6:45 7:00 PM Welcome 2014 Riders and Volunteers • Star Spangled Banner -Sung by The Sauquoit Valley High School & directed by Ryan Decker • Registration Update - John Nabors • Sponsor Recognition - Jim White and Steve Tibbits • 2013 Accomplishments - Kate Alcott and Wendy Fical • Ride Announcements and Information - Tony Artessa • Guest Speaker Lou Bivona - Chairman of NCMEC/NY Advisory Board and founder of the NCMEC/NY regional office. Lou will be speaking about NCMEC’s establishment 30 years ago and announcing plans to recognize the 30th year Anniversary of NCMEC/NY and play a PSA from his close Friend John Walsh especially recorded for The Ride for Missing Children CNY • Closing Remarks - Dick Jordan January Meeting Agenda [1] CORPORATE BENEFACTOR Luminary First Source Federal Credit Union Patron Carbone Auto Group Fastrac Market Upstate HomeCare Valentino's Banquet Hall Gold Birnie Bus Service ConMed Corporation Di Highway Sign & Structure Corp. Dick Sonne's Cycle NYSCOPBA Romanelli Advertising Sponsor Adonis Avanti Transportation Service College Calendar Company Costello, Sr. - Allen Eye Associates CoughlinGiambrone Clinton Tractor & Implement Co. Daniele's Banquet Facility Faxton - St Luke's Healthcare Gilroy, Kernan & Gilroy Insurance Holiday Inn Human Technologies, Inc. Happy Greetings Riders and Volunteers: Ed Suk It’s hard to believe another year has come to a close and as we look back on the triumphs and challenges of 2013 we are already diligently making preparations for the Ride for Missing Children 2014. What a year it was… from January through December 2013 our Mohawk Valley office provided over 200 safety education programs serving over 30,000 children and adults and distributed 531,799 targeted posters, successfully recovering 439 missing children. This brings our total number of missing children recovered to date… to an amazing 6,022. I can think of no better way to celebrate the spirit of the recent holiday season than to acknowledge that these 439 children are now safely home thanks to you for making this possible through your support and efforts this past year. And we must always remember that our work is not done, there are countless other children far less fortunate that were not home for the holidays and are still missing as we enter a New Year. For those children we pray and we pledge: We will always be there to continue this fight to protect our kids… and we will always be true to our goals…we will never stop looking for your missing child, we will never give up hope for your missing child and we will stay vigilant in our efforts to do everything we can to make our children safer, one child at a time…. 2014 is a special year for us. We are recognizing the 30th anniversary of NCMEC as a national organization and also the 30th anniversary of our New York Regional office. We started as an Adam Walsh Resource Center in 1984 and became a branch of NCMEC in 1990. We have many special activities and events planned to honor our children, parents, volunteers and supporters this year. Stay tuned and please help us spread the word about this milestone anniversary. On behalf of the staff and board of NCMEC/NY, and the Leadership Team of the Ride for Missing Children CNY I want to express our deepest appreciation for all that you do to support our efforts. We could never hope to accomplish any of our goals without the love, support, energy and efforts of each and every one of you. The time you share with us comes at a price…and we thank you and your families as well, for letting us have so much of your time away to help us in protecting kids. We appreciate you so very much now and throughout the year….. With Gratitude and Hope we wish you a Happy New Year! Indium Corporation JPJ Communications Mele Family Fund Mohawk Limited Luxury Restrooms National Grid New Hartford Shopping Center New York State United Teachers Otsego Mutual Fire Insurance Company Paragon Athletic Club Remington Arms Rio Grande Tex-Mex Grill Rural Metro Speedy Awards & Engraving Sulllivan Contracting T. C. Peters Printing, Inc. Trainor Associates Walgreens Wal-Mart Distribution Center Volunteers: Welcome all of the volunteers for the 2014 Ride For Missing Children! We would like to introduce ourselves as the 2014 Volunteer Coordinators. Judy Palmieri and Janice Lutz will share the volunteer responsibilities. Judy will coordinate the volunteer registration process and Janice will coordinate the volunteer activities the day of the Ride. Volunteers are an integral part of the Ride. Because of the hard work of all the volunteers the Ride has been a success year after year. Volunteers can register and complete an application online by going to therideformissingchildren.com. There have been a few problems with the online application. Make sure that you [2] receive a message back that your application has been received. There will be a volunteer meeting announced at a later date. You may contact us at any time prior to the meeting at admin@therideformissing children.com. Put "volunteer" in the subject line of your email. We hope to see you at the monthly Ride For Missing Children meetings beginning in January. Fundraising with Active.com: Dave Kubera Active.com allows you to easily set up your own personal web page for The Ride. Once your web page is set up, friends and family can make online donations with a credit card to help you with your fundraising commitment. In order to set up your own donation page you MUST start from the main donation page (http://www.active.com/donate/RFMCCNY2014). Do NOT create your own page using any other method or this will cause problems. From the main page, just click on "Become a Fundraiser" and you are on your way! You should have received detailed documents on setting up your page, but if you need another copy just go to therideformissingchildren.com , click on "Riders" link at the top of the page, then click on "Document Center", there you will find 2 documents that will detail the process of setting up your page: · 2014 Active.com Fundraising Quick Start Guide PDF · 2014 Active.com Become A Fundraiser Guide PDF Please verify that your donation page starts with "http://www.active.com/donate/ RFMCCNY2014", this ensures that you set your page up correctly. If you have any problems related to your active.com account that you cannot resolve through the active.com web site, such as forgotten usernames, passwords, or want to change any information like updating your name on your account, you can contact Active directly at: Phone: 1-877-228-4881 Fax: 1-858-964-3978 Email: [email protected] Office Hours: Monday - Friday 7am to 5pm Pacific Standard Time Here are some common questions and answers about using Active.com: Contributors Chobani Greek Yogurt Meyda Ligh5ng NYS Correc5ons Emerald Society -‐ Mid-‐State Chapter Northland Communica5ons Paradigm Consul5ng, Inc. Piggy Pat's BBQ Teal's Express The Herkimer County and Oneida County Presidents' Councils of NYSUT's U5ca Regional Oﬃce Tony's Pizzeria Q: How much does active charge? A: For each donation that is made, active will charge $1 PLUS 6.5% of the donation amount. So a donation of $10 would result in $8.35 and a donation of $100 would result in $92.50. You will receive credit on the full amount donated towards your fundraising obligation, but if you can get a check instead of an active donation that would be preferred! Q: Can I just reset my web page from last year? A: No, every year you need to set up a new page starting from the main donation page. U5ca Mack Truck, Inc. U5ca Truck Sales, Inc. Whims-‐n-‐Doodles Village Floral Q: Is there still time for me to set up an active.com donation page for this year's ride? A: Absolutely!! You can create a new donation page up till the day of The Ride.....but why not do it today! Q: How many people use active? A: In 2013, 136 riders created an active.com donation page. If you have any problems or questions, please contact me at [email protected]. Introduction of the 2014 RfMC Leadership Team: Mohawk Valley National Center for Missing & Exploited Children LEADERSHIP TEAM Kate Alcott Tony Artessa Wendy Fical Dick Jordan John Nabors Finance & Donations Rider & Volunteer Meetings Education Pace Shepard Registration School Rest Stops & Ride Bys Ceremonies Route Planning Center Operations New Riders Provisions Pre Ride Operations Law Enforcement Corporate Sponsors Families Designated Information Tech Rider Safety Apparel Sales Ride Day Operations Jim White Liaison Post Ride Dinner Volunteers Jim Simpson Dept. of Corrections Liaison Jerseys, Pins, Rider & Volunteer Bags Communications & Media & Escort Riders EMT Coordination Transportation KWA 10-13 [3] We are happy to introduce our 2014 Leadership Team and show you the areas they are responsible for. The Team is excited about the year ahead and assisting YOU in making our children safe… one child at a time! MEETING D A T E S In 1995 VALENTINO’S BANQUET HALL 02/10/2014 3899 Oneida Street, Washington Mills, NY 315-737-9506 03/10/2014 04/07/2014 05/05/2014 a group of 7 men rode their bicycles from Utica, New York to Washington, D.C. in order to raise awareness about the plight of missing children and to bring a message of safety to the people they met along the way. They arrived on the Capitol steps on May 25th, the first National Missing Children's Day. Two years later, inspired by that first Ride, a group of 43 riders rode their bicycles 100 miles from Albany, NY to Utica, NY with the same message of safety and awareness. Thus began the Ride For Missing Children. On-line Shopping: letters and acknowledge donors electronically, saving trees and saving postage expense in the process! New for 2014 - On-line Shopping Site to take place of apparel sales at monthly meetings! A new log sheet was emailed to you and hard copies of the new form will be available at Ride meetings. Simply ask your donors to give you their email addresses and note them on the log with the other information. Assure your donors that NCMEC will not use these emails for anything other than acknowledging the giftno marketing, no spam! Thank you all for helping us to save money while saving the planet! Please check out the NEW, On-line, Rider Apparel Shopping Store at - http://goo.gl/W1GVn Apparel proceeds support the work of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children New York in preventing sexual exploitation and bringing our missing children home. Decorated items are not returnable, however each item has a detailed sizing chart to assist you with sizing. You will find the link on each item page. • Pam Way, Donation Committee Co-Chair, [email protected] Only limited remaining apparel from previous years will be sold at the Ride meetings. Funds raised from the 2013 Ride for Missing Children = $402,222 01/13/2014 • Larry Combs, Donation Committee Co-Chair, [email protected] Help NCMEC to GO GREEN! • Kate Alcott, Leadership Team, [email protected] Each year we send out thousands of letters to Ride donors acknowledging their generous gifts to NCMEC. Let’s make an effort this year to nix the [4]