Special delivery: College Pizza tries to help find missing kids

Gaeta's College Pizza owner Wink Hall recently began to demonstrate that community service and business can go hand in hand by taping photographs of missing children to each box of pizza he sells. He also displays the photographs and information about each child inside the establishment on the 3900 block of Walnut Street. "Everyone who walks into the store reads these," he noted. And since the University draws students from all over the world, "you never know" who might see them and recognize a child, he added. Hall, who owns both the pizza establishment on campus and an Italian bakery in Northeast Philadelphia, attributes this idea to his "bad eyes." He once thought he saw pictures of missing children printed on a shampoo bottle. And although Hall later realized the "children" were just part of the bottle's design, the simple mistake was the catalyst for his project. Then, this past holiday season, Hall had a thought: what would he do without his own two children? "It bums you out," he said. "It would destroy me if they weren't around." About a month ago, these feelings, in addition to several trade publications' constant advice to advertise on pizza boxes, led Hall to contact Patricia Morales of the Vanished Children's Alliance in San Jose, Calif. He asked the organization for posters of children that he could tape onto his pizza boxes. Morales, who works in the 18-year-old group's photo distribution department, said she thought Hall had "a great idea," adding that anything that publicizes the issue of missing children helps the group's cause. Every poster increases the likelihood that someone will recognize a child, Morales said. "Any exposure is good exposure," she said. One million children are abducted every year, equivalent to one every 40 seconds, according to the group. Seventy percent of the cases are eventually solved. VCA Assistant Director Chris Wilder said that the group, the second-largest organization of its kind in the country, was the first agency to use photo dissemination -- the primary and most effective method of generating sightings of missing children. Each week, Hall chooses a new child out of the photographs Morales sends. Usually it is one who was abducted relatively recently, since he believes that these cases hold a greater chance of success. The nearby Campus Copy Center donates copies for each box. Hall said he is still looking for someone to donate tape. Morales said she is still not sure how effective Hall's project will be. But her colleague Wilder remains optimistic. "If his work generates one sighting that leads to the recovery of a child, then it's all worth it," he said. Hall echoed these sentiments. "Think how incredible it would be if someone recognized somebody," he said. Stressing that he is "always involved," Hall said he participates in other community service activities, such as coaching children in basketball and volleyball for the Special Olympics.