July 29, 2010
Vector Security Pledges Corporate Support for
Project Home Again!

Vector Security announces today that it has made a corporate pledge to support Project Home Again. Project Home is a national effort undertaken jointly by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ( NCMEC) and the Mechanical Service Contractors of America (MSCA).

The program seeks to return missing and kidnapped children to their parents through a public awareness campaign that involves displaying posters, depicting the likeness and personal information of missing and kidnapped children on service vehicles used by participating companies.

Vector Security's involvement will include a fleet of nearly 300 service vans and uniformed guard and patrol vehicles which travel the Mid Atlantic states, Florida and California and will drive their ongoing support of the NCMEC throughout their branch office network.

John Murphy, Vector Security's President and CEO, stresses that his company's support of Project Home Again ties directly into Vector's core corporate values.  "We're in the business of protecting the things our customers cherish the most and that certainly begins with children.  Given our continuing dedication to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, this opportunity allows us to root this valuable organization further within our large and expanding branch office network. 
If we can help only one child make it back home, or bring his or her plight directly to the attention of the general public, it will all be worth it.

But the true story lies behind this milestone presentation and it began with Melissa's 12 year old daughter Katie in 2004.  Having been diagnosed with leukemia earlier and during one of Katie's many long hospital stays, 856 days and 30 spinal taps in total, Katie noticed a family that had been there longer and traveled further and sat up from her bed and asked Melissa, "Mom who feeds them?  Understanding that many families had it worst and couldn't afford meals at times Katie asked her mom "Don't you think we ought to feed them  We should start a charity and take care of those people." , Katie had a sense of urgency and pressed by saying"how many days are we willing for people not to have the money to pay for dinner?"  So at 59 lbs., bald, and with a feeding tube Katie, Melissa, and the rest of their family, having just lost Melissa's Father to cancer and Melissa's mother on the verge of passing away, started Katie's Helping Hand in collaboration with Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.  Now stretched to Texas Katie's Helping Hand has had almost 30,000 meals delivered to deserving parents in hospital rooms in two Hospitals, so that the parents don't have to worry about funds to pay for food or leaving their children to eat.

To Melissa's family "giving is like a pebble dropped in a still pond, a single point of contact can cause a ripple effect that goes on and on.  Today Katie is in remission and is starting college in August to pursue her degree as a Child Psychologist specializing in helping children who have life threatening illnesses.  Katie's "cancer was an unexpected right turn" in her young life and starting the charity has "changed the map of her childhood", and will serve to  help change the map for others  during a medical crisis for years to  come.  This is a true Charity Driven Family in the Loss Prevention community and we are humbled and honored to announce that Melissa will be helping to manage and contribute to this column in the future.