SOURCE: ME911

August 06, 2009 09:05 ET

Office Depot and ME911 Kick-Off the Back-to-School Season With Free Nationwide Child Fingerprinting Events

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - August 6, 2009) - Office Depot® (NYSE: ODP), a leading global provider of office products and services, and ME911, a premier provider of 24/7 emergency response services for families, today announced their partnership to promote back-to-school safety by hosting free digital child fingerprinting events at select Office Depot retail stores across the country.

The free Child Fingerprinting events will be held at Office Depot stores in the following markets: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Denver, Orlando, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. The program is designed to provide parents and guardians with resourceful tools to help ensure the safety of their children.

Free Nationwide Child Fingerprinting Events will be held:

August 15, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm:

-- Atlanta: 530 Lakeland Plaza, Suite A, Cumming, GA 30040

-- Cincinnati: 11711 Princeton Pike, Springdale, OH 45246

-- Denver: 8601 W Cross Drive, Littleton, CO 80123

August 22, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm:

-- Orlando: 924 West State Road, 436, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714

-- Dallas: 909 N Central Expressway, # 100, Plano, TX 75075

-- San Francisco: 2675 Geary Blvd., #100, San Francisco, CA 94118

-- Chicago: 16 E Golf Rd., Schaumburg, IL 60173

August 29, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm:

-- Seattle: 15301 N.E. 24th Street, Redmond, WA 98052

September 5, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm:

-- Los Angeles: 24313 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance, CA 90505

-- Washington, DC: 5845 Leesburg Pike, Baileys Crossroads, VA 22041

While preparing their shopping lists in time for the back-to-school season, parents should also consider an important fact that in the U.S. alone, a child is reported missing every 40 seconds on average, based on a study by the U.S. Department of Justice on the national estimates of missing children (NISMART-2, 2002).

In fact, the first few hours after a child has gone missing are highly emotional as parents search for recent photos, means of identification, or even try to remember distinctive characteristics accurately. Having this information on hand helps law enforcement officials track the progression of the investigation and could speed up the recovery process.

At each of the events hosted by Office Depot and ME911, families have the opportunity to receive a free 8 1/2 by 11-inch detailed profile of their children within minutes. It includes characteristic descriptions such as height, weight, eye and hair color, forensic-quality digital fingerprints, photographs, and two wallet-size child I.D. cards that they can carry with them at all times.

ME911 uses digitized technology to conduct the process quickly and easily without the use of ink. Once completed, all information is permanently erased from the system as it is strictly for the privacy of the families. When needed in a missing person's investigation, this detailed document can be handed over by the family to law enforcement officials anywhere in the world.

"The Back-to-School season is the perfect time for families to prepare for not only their kids academic essentials but also for their safety," said Chuck Rubin, President of North American Retail. "We've partnered with ME911 on this initiative to make safety and back to school preparedness a one-stop-shop right here at Office Depot."

"We are very excited to partner with Office Depot to provide this invaluable service to families to assure the safety of their kids in such a convenient and widely accessible manner," said Clarence Wesley, Chief Executive Officer, ME911. "We would like to thank Office Depot for working with us to provide this free service to communities nationwide."

For more information please visit www.ME911.com.

About Office Depot

Every day, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides products and services to its customers through 1,593 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and a $4.3 billion e-commerce operation. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $14.5 billion, and employs about 42,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office products and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 47 countries.

Office Depot's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com.

About ME911

ME911 is an innovative company offering emergency response membership services for families. In the event of a safety, health, or travel emergency or a natural disaster, members have access to a 24/7 Personal Crisis Assistant including the ability to send instant group text, email, & voice alerts to loved ones with just one phone call. ME911 also provides an online 'vault' to store emergency profiles, health information, vital contacts, insurance documents, birth certificates, etc. that can be made available when needed most. For more information please visit www.ME911.com.