Appomattox VA: Annual Railroad Festival

Appomattox Annual Railroad Festival

Saturday, Oct. 8th marked the date of the Annual Railroad Festival held in the streets ofAppomattox, Virginia. Known for good food and great times, the festival attracts thousands of people both young and old each year. This year did not disappoint.

In addition to the fun and games, the local Masonic Lodge decided to add a bit of safety by sponsoring a Virginia Child Identification Program booth. The equipment was borrowed from the FBI. State Wide's Brock Robinson, joined with his fellow local Freemasons to volunteer and operate the system throughout the day.

The whole process took about 10 minutes. The system is set up to help parents get vital information out to law enforcement in case a child goes missing or is lost. Height, weight, family info., DNA, fingerprints and photo ID were all included on a disc that is given to the parents. No information is retained on the system or by the volunteers.

As one volunteer noted, "this is the best insurance you could ever have for a child. God forbid that anything happens to these children, but if something does the parent has the disc that could be given to law enforcement. The police would immediately be able to put the child on the Amber Alert System with the information the disc contains".

The local area Masons were so impressed with the turn out, they plan to provide the program next year. So if you missed out , be sure to stop by next fall.