From BleckleyProgress.com

Community News
Bleckley Pre-K holds GACHIP Child ID event.
By BleckleyProgress.com contributor.
Sep 20, 2018, 14:15

The Bleckley County Sheriff's Department and Cochran Masonic Lodge 217 F&AM recently sponsored the Georgia Child Identification Program (GA Chip) for students at Bleckley Pre-K. GACHIP is one of the most comprehensive Child Recovery, Identification, and Abduction Awareness programs in Georgia and is provided free of charge.

Sheriff Kris Coody watches as Becky Mullis and Neal Nimbs take down a student's information.


At the event, masons provided the equipment and enlisted the aid of local volunteers to help create the child identification kits. Each one contains a DNA swab, distinguishing information about the child, and a disc with the child’s fingerprints, pictures, video, and voice recordings.

Bleckley Pre-K will release the kits to the students’ parents/guardians to take home for safekeeping. All information is confidential and GACHIP does not retain any information or data other than the parental permission form.

The mission of GACHIP is to raise public awareness concerning the risk of abduction or exploitation that children and families face in today’s society. It is our hope that no child will be the victim of a crime or incident that requires use of the GACHIP kit. However, it will be a valuable resource in helping officials accurately locate and/or identify a child should the need arise.

The mission of GACHIP is to raise public awareness concerning the risk of abduction or exploitation that children and families face in today’s society. It is our hope that no child will be the victim of a crime or incident that requires use of the GACHIP kit. However, it will be a valuable resource in helping officials accurately locate and/or identify a child should the need arise.

Pre-K Administrative Assistant Susan Crooms and Becky Sawyer work during the program.


A special thank you to the following for their assistance in making the event a huge success: Cochran Masonic Lodge members supporters Neal Mimbs, Mildred Mimbs, Patrick Mimbs, Julie Mimbs, and Walt Ashby. M&C Dental Center's Dr. Lynn Mullis and Becky Mullis. Sheriff Kris Koody, Chief Deputy Daniel Cape, Sherry Manning, School Resource Officers Chris Smith and Charles Warren, as well as Pre-K volunteer Becky Sawyer.

Bleckley Pre-K looks forward to the GACHIP Program becoming an annual event. It's provided at no cost to the parents or school. Donations to support the program can be sent to Georgia Masonic Charities Foundation, Inc., 811 Mulberry St., Macon, GA 31201.


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