ae TaN ELT H ETE: RANE PEER: ey % as Program aims to find children — quickly IT HAS been a busy day of shopping and a 10-year-old boy is lost in the confusion. Instead of panicking, the youth heads to a nearby shop for heip. Once inside, the retailer gets a specially coded tag from the lost child and calls the Kidfinders headquarters, who then calls the parents or the police. Such is Kidfinders, a recently formed foundation designed to quickly reunite lost people -— kids, seniors or the handicapped — with their family or friends. Founder and president Larry Watkins explains the program's first phase kicked off last April with the aim of helping the thou- sands of Expo visitors in town. By STEPHEN BARRINGTON News Reporter Watkins estimates abou 20,000 lost’ visitors were helped by the program. “That was phase one,” says former CFL player Watkins. “Phase two just started last week to make it available to all the peo- ple in the provinee.* Canadian Football League players were on hand recently at West Vancouver's McDonald's on the weekend. encouraging kids and photo Nel FORMER CANADIAN Football League player and Kidfinders founder Larry Watkins (right), four-year-old Stefanie Friend and North Shore Optimists Club member Charlie Jones make sure kids young and old do not get lost with Kidfinders tags. The free tags, given away by the Op- timists Club last weekend at the West Vancouver McDonald’s, help in returning lost kids and seniors to their homes. City budget hike proposed NORTH VANCOUVER City homeowners can expect to pay $39 more in city taxes this year under the 1987 provisional budget adopted by council Monday night. But Mayor Jack Loucks said in his mid-term address the provi- sional budget is only a preliminary budget based on submissions from various city departments. Said Loucks: ‘After council analyzes the budget, it will try to reduce it without critically affec- ting the quality of service expected by our citizens. ‘Last year a projected 11 per cent increase in the provisional budget was reduced to a three per cent increase in the final budget,"’ the mayor added. Deputy treasurer-collector Ken Tollstam said in a report the 5,9- per-cent hike was due largely to a $624,000 decrease in revenue from the sale of permits. “Every effort has been made in preparing the 1987 pravisional budget to control expenditures so our projected tax increase can be kept to a minimum.”* their parents to join the new pro- gram. “We were able to sign up over 200 kids in a two-day period.” he said of the weekend event that was co-sponsored by the local North Shore Optimists Club. Alibough the name of the organization is Kidfinders, Watkins stresses that the service is also for anyone who might get disoriented —- seniors or handi- capped. The Kidfinders idea is similar to the TB Vets’ program of returning lost keys using a numbered plastic tag that corresponds to each per- son in the program. Watkins revamped the idea to appiy to people instead of kevs, and Kidfinders was born. Using the tag, fost people can be quickly returned to their homes. ‘*The response from parents was fantastic,"’ says Watkins. **They really did tike the idea for the pro- gram because there’s no program like it now.”* Some, however, were sceptical of the free program and wondered about hidden costs. Watkins stresses the service is free to anyone who joins the prograin. Children are advised to put the tag on their shoe-lace or through one of their buttonholes. When the lost person goes to a retailer, the shopkeeper will call Kidsfinders headquarters where workers will contact the family or friends. Right now, the non-profit group receives no money from the gov- ernment. Watkins is funding the fledgling program himself and with one or two supporters. Watkins says Kidfinders is not to replace the similar Block Parent program. ‘‘We are just a reloca- tion — immediate relocation — service,’’ he says. One of the main reasons he started Kid‘inders, he explains, was because there were not enough people working to help Alzheimer sufferers. ‘‘There are just as many Alzheimers people who go wander- ing off,’’ Watkins says. Kidfinders has been applauded by Senator Ray Perrault, the TB Vets, the Retail Merchants’ Association of British Columbia and the B.C. Special Olympics. The North Shore Optimists Club is providing the tags to any local North Shore resident interested in joining the program. For more in- formation on Kidfinders, call the club at 922-9620 or Kidfinders at 732-4433. GALAPAGOS ISLANDS ,