Dangers, Disasters and Good Deeds

Heroic Mission

In 1985, the United States Postal Service stepped beyond the boundaries of “business as usual.” USPS joined ADVO, America’s largest company specializing in targeted direct mail services, and NCMEC, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, in forming a private-sector partnership with a heroic mission.

Child recovered through ADVO
ADVO, the originator of the idea for the missing children program, is the single largest private customer of the United States Postal Service.

The purpose of the partnership was to launch a special program called America’s Looking for Its Missing Children®. Since its inception, the program has gained widespread recognition as one of the nation’s most effective public service initiatives.

Through the ADVO, NCMEC and USPS partnership, pictures of missing children are distributed to up to 85 million homes per week on Have You Seen Me?® direct mail cards. As of September, 2004, the partnership had safely recovered 132 missing children.