The Missouri Masonic Children’s Foundation is pleased to announce that we have hired a new State Coordinator for our Missouri Child Identification and Protection Program (MoCHIP), Mitchell S. Penn, from Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Mitch has been with the program for several years as a Regional Coordinator and has worked tirelessly for the benefit of children and families in the State of Missouri. He brings an enthusiasm, a passion and knowledge that will serve the program well for the next several years.
As we welcome Mitch, we must also give a heartfelt thank-you to the man who stepped in as our Interim State Coordinator for the last several months, Nicholas R. Cichielo. Nick has been with the program since its inception in August of 2005. He and his wife, Lori, helped grow the program to what it is today, until moving out of state two years ago. As always, when asked, he did not hesitate to step back out of retirement to help.
MoCHIP is a comprehensive child identification and protection tool designed to give families a measure of protection against the ever increasing problem of missing children. It is one of the most comprehensive Child Recovery, Identification and Abduction Awareness Education programs ever to be offered to parents in Missouri.  This program is provided free of charge to every family who wishes to participate.
Since its inception, MoCHIP, through the efforts of Masonic lodges in the state of Missouri, coordinators and loyal volunteers, more than 230,000 children have been processed and many thousands of families in Missouri are safer.
For information about MoChip, or how to host a MoCHIP event in your area, visit our website at www.mochip.org.
Fraternally,
Richard W. Kaeser, Jr.
President