A child is missing!
Florida Power and Light's Scott Sankey helped organize
the utility's meter readers to search for missing children.
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Volunteers without search warrants watch for the lost child inside every piece of private property for miles around. They enter backyards, basements, fruit groves, livestock ranches, industrial sites, places of business, and other offbeat locations which might hide a lost, runaway, or kidnapped child. Hundreds armed with photographs and a description of the vanished child fan out with impunity to keep an eye on every piece of private property in the state.
Sound too good to be true? It's happening right now. Scott A. Sankey of Port Charlotte, Florida, came up with an idea which has these volunteers operating between Homestead, Florida, and Jacksonville, south of Tampa to Naples, throughout the West Palm Beach area, and north to the Ocala region. Scott is a meter reader with Florida Power and Light, and he has 450 other meter readers looking for Florida's missing children.
Combining Work and Community Service
"I was thrilled when came to me with the idea," said his supervisor Sherri Fields of the Punta Gorda office. "We can all do our jobs and some community service at the same time." Scott receives photographs and data on missing Florida children from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, D.C.. They are posted in the meter reader office and company lunchroom. Florida Power and Light's special consumer services department distributes updated posters to 31 meter-reading locations companywide.
"Since we are out there every day, the posters will enable us to provide another set of eyes that maybe can help locate a missing child," Scott said. "It also will hopefully act as a deterrent to this tragic crime. If these criminals know that we are out there watching them house to house, motel to motel, building to building, and trailer park to campground, it may help us stop a child abduction in the first place."
Utilities Working Together for Children
"Scott was the first person from a utility company to call us for our support," said Lee Steinwick, a spokesperson at the National Center. "We're happy to help, because it opens a new avenue for getting out the word on missing and exploited children."
"I'd love to answer questions readers or utility companies that would like to spread the house-to-house search for missing kids from coast to coast," said Scott. "They can reach me for more at information at 941/624-0438, or by e-mail at sejl37mp@sunline.net."
Creative Givers Helping Kids, Winter 1997, Vol.3, No.1
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