The Jessica Lunsford story of a little girl who had been abducted from her grandmother’s home in Florida, and was later found dead ar a neighbor’s house, rouched Fran Doll in Akron, Ohio. One could say “It set her on fire.” She wanted to do something to help. She put on her thinking cap and Fran came up with the idea of having law enforcement train civilians to help look for children after they were abducted.

Fran Doll, founder of Grandparents Against Sex Predators (GASP), is shown in the bottom row at left next to Dee Genda, head of the speakers bureau with (second row) Deborah Graef, a GASP board member:; Eve Torocsik, a member of the advisory committee; and Flo Haas, administrative assistant. Photo by: Kathleen Folkerth

That is when Grandparents Against Sex Predators (GASP) was born in June 2006. Out of tragedy comes good.

Using her experience, resources, and contacts, Fran immediately began networking to everyone she knew. Each individual called thought her idea was great. and interest in her organization “exploded.” Within three weeks an article on GASP was featured on the front page of the Beacon Journal, Local Section. She appeared on two Cleveland TV stations and people began calling her, wanting to volunteer.

Since then, 100 volunteers have been trained by the Ohio Summit County Sheriffs Office on how to assist the department when abductions occur. “We want to be the extra eyes and ears, but do it in a way they need us to do it,” Doll said.

Christine Croce, Sex Offender Unit, stated that “Having an extra 80 pairs of eyes and ears is like having a whole other shift of deputies available. GASP is a huge help in getting the word out.”

As an offshoot to Fran’s original idea, GASP began making children’s ID/photo/fingerprint cards for added protection. Local individuals make a difference in a community, people want to help they just don’t know what to do. Again, education is so important in your community.

GASP’S First Success Story

Tina Jarosch, Crisis Center Shelter Manager of the Bartered Women’s Shelter, “I thank the grassroots action that GASP has started to assist her clients in getting their children’s ID paperwork for their protection.” Here is her story:

A family staying at Tina’s shelter had utilized GASP just two weeks before to get fingerprints and photos of her children made for their identification. He mother had come into the shelter staff office and showed staff the ID cards with the children’s fingerprints. She had also been able to put a picture of each child on the sign-in sheet. At the time, Tina had never seen those before, but had thought it was a wonderful idea.

Looking back, Tina believes that the universe had intervened on these children’s behalf, since two weeks later the children were kidnapped by their father from the church daycare center while their mother was worshipping in a different room. By morning, he had transported them over state lines. The next the