Tracesmart Missing Person Campaign Goes from Strength to Strength
Released
on: July 31, 2008, 7:47 am
Press
Release Author: Tracesmart
LTD
Industry:
Internet
& Online
Press
Release Summary: Tracesmart campaign continues to reunite families
and raise the profile of people tracing.
Press
Release Body: Following
on from its launch in February 2008, Tracesmart's Missing
Person campaign has enjoyed considerable success. The campaign's
principle aims - to reunite people with lost friends and relatives,
and raise awareness of tracing in the media - are both being met.
Over 50 families have been reunited and the methods and tools
used to locate estranged individuals have been well publicised
in the media.
In
order to raise the profile of tracing and also reunite family
and friends, the Missing Persons campaign offers individuals the
opportunity to search people they are out of contact
with, free of charge, by a professional tracer in return for sharing
their story with the world. Heavily promoted through their flagship
people search website, Tracesmart.co.uk,
the campaign has prompted a multitude of people from all over
the world to request assistance in their hunt for lost loved ones,
the most heart-warming of which, in particular those who have
been apart for most of their lives, were selected for this free
tracing service.
The
reunification stories have generated a lot of interest in both
national and regional media, making headlines in the press, on
television and online. Most notably the series Missing Live, which
earlier this year was featured on BBC 1 every weekday for a month,
picked up the story of Faye Jones who had been searching for her
father, Ken Millard, for over 20 years. The story demonstrated
perfectly how easy it is to locate a lost loved one - checking
the electoral roll and conducting
an address
search on the Tracesmart website swiftly yielded a positive
trace. Following a letter from Tracesmart, Mr. Millard immediately
contacted them and they put him back in touch with his daughter.
Another
father and daughter story also empathised how simple it can be
to trace missing relatives and caught the attention of the press.
Following their reunification after 27 years apart, Andy and Rebecca
Bond were more than happy to share their story with both the Manchester
Evening News and Derbyshire Telegraph. "I really didn't think
anyone would be able to find my dad with that little information"
Ms Bond commented in the Derbyshire Telegraph, "I had always thought
about looking for my dad but never really knew how to go about
it." The reunion took place just before Fathers Day, making the
story particularly poignant and it featured both in print and
on the web.
Lead
Media Trace Researcher and one of the campaigns chief protagonists,
Louise Hewlett, commented on how the campaign will be continuing,
"Following 6 successful months, we are keen to keep the momentum
up and assist those who visit the Tracesmart site hoping to find
relatives. Initially, looking for lost relatives can seem a daunting
task where in reality it needn't be. We hope that by continuing
with this project we will not only be able to reunite more people,
but inspire others to do it themselves."
Notes
to Editors
- Tracesmart
- Founded in 1999, Tracesmart has, since the launch of its
website in 2004, established itself as one of the UK's leading
people tracing resources available on-line today. Since its
inception the site has been instrumental in reuniting thousands
of long lost family members and friends.
- Louise
Hewlett - Louise is the head media tracer on the Missing Person
project. As well as locating and reuniting those involved,
she provides the detailed analysis of how the trace subjects
were located. She produces and maintains the "Success Stories"
section on Tracesmart.co.uk which highlights successful traces
and how they were completed.
Web
Site: http://www.tracesmart.co.uk/
Contact
Details:
Contact:
-
Owen
Roberts - Communications Manager
-
Tracesmart
Ltd
-
2
Sovereign Quay
-
Havannah
Street
-
Cardiff
-
CF10
5SF
-
Tel:
02920 474 114
-
Email:
owenr@tracesmart.co.uk
-
Photos
available on request.