PLEASE pick up the phone and get in touch. This is the plea from thousands of families who would like their missing loved ones to get in contact during Missing Persons Awareness Month, May 2005.
Research has found that three-quarters of people who do wish to trace a relative have not yet tried to find them, possibly because they are unsure as to where to begin.
The Salvation Army is one of the organisations which look for missing people, all of which are joined through one common website - www.look4them.org.
The others are: the Missing Persons Helpline, the Red Cross, International Social Service (ISS), the Metropolitan Police, the Association of British Investigators, Reunite and NORCAP.
The Salvation Army deals with 4,000 cases a year and has an 86 per cent success rate.
Earlier this year Shirley Vine from Lymington was reunited with her niece Michelle Mapson by the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service, having not seen her for 30 years.
Their renewed friendship has been so positive that aunt and niece are going into business together renting out holiday accommodation in Dorset where Shirley has decided to make a new home for herself. To look for a relative contact: The Salvation Army Family Tracing Service on 0845 6344747 or the National Missing Persons Helpline on 0500 700700.
First published: May 21
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