Mark, and all Thank you for looking at the video and going to our website.
My name is Fred Salanti of the Missing in America Project. I will try to answer all your question about our program.
We are fairly new but have been endorsed by the American Legion nationally and have been given tremendous support from the Veterans Administration in being able to verify veterans, spouses and children under 21, all of which are eligible for burial.
Obviously, we are dealing with a very sensitive topic and the first objections are to prove any credibility and then to show that we are doing this to simply give our veterans the Honors they were due for serving.
The funeral homes have not accepted us with open arms, there are many reasons that veterans are still on the shelf. In some cases since the 1890's.
We have spent the first year of our existence building databases, getting the word out and learning how to approach the funeral homes, provide signed waivers that we will not sue them or release any information we see there helping them. we have had to obtain liability insurance to do this and to cover ourselves from any lawsuit.
As outlined in the email from Michigan, some volunteers came on board swiftly but simply have not went to funeral homes and sold themselves or us to them.
There are currently only about 10 states with any active members, even though there are more listed. Those will be deleted shortly.
Your help is needed, at all levels. I thank you for your interest and let's see if we can work on this together. I will check in periodically to answer any questions that you may have for me.
fred