Mayor McCormick, Public Safety Administrator Chris Sichra, Dan St. Peters and the staff of St Peters hardware pose for the event kickoff.

Mayor Mike McCormick is extremely pleased to announce a new collaborative effort between the village Public Safety Administrator and St. Peters Hardware & Rental, designed to assist seniors, disabled, and US military veterans obtain address markings for homes where the markings/numbers are missing or weathered at no cost to the participant or the taxpayer.

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The new program is called: “Be found! –Stay safe & sound!”

The “Be found!-stay safe & sound outreach program is for residents of Godfrey and will be launched by village Public Safety Administrator - Chris Sichra this spring. It is designed to provide assistance to older/senior residents, disabled residents and military veterans by providing address numbering on homes that either don’t have proper address numbers or markings defined by local ordinance, (whether by resident request or in response to a code violation letter from the village.)

The program is designed to be at no cost to the qualifying resident or village taxpayers, all labor is to be donated by Chris Sichra (on his own time), and 50% of the material cost will be shared between Mr. Sichra and our local St. Peters Hardware & Rental. Sichra states that he set aside one month of his salary to put towards the material costs for this program he’ll also be doing the installation of the markings on his own time as well, he believes that this sends a message that inspires others to do the same for their community or cause.                                                                                                                        

Local business owner Dan St. Peters who for years has vested in and looked out for the welfare of his community, looks forward to working with the village with this public safety initiative.

There will be a limited selection of the style, size and type of markings selected, but Chris Sichra plans to work with the affected resident to help them select the best option to what they need/want.

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Mayor McCormick recognizes that his community has a large population of residents over 65 and completely agrees with Sichra’s concern for safety and the need for additional care to be taken of our older residents through this type of outreach program.

Chris Sichra’s comments on the program: “I was motivated out of concern for those in my community, especially seniors and disabled, to see homes not properly marked or that numbers have fallen off due to weathering so that they can be CLEARLY seen by our first responders, with the idea that fire, police and emergency medical services may find those residences faster.  One thing I’ve learned working as a St Louis city firefighter for nearly the past 20 years, when people are in “medical crisis” and in need of assistance, every single second counts, and I want to do whatever I can to improve the odds of a successful outcome for that resident.”

Sichra will be working closely with Laura Dixon the Building & Zoning Director to find homes most in need of markings, and will reach out to owners to assess whether or not they are eligible for assistance.

The requirements for the program will be that the applicant must be a Godfrey resident, a homeowner, (or have written permission from the homeowner to participate) must be over the age of 55, or must either be disabled or a US military veteran, other special cases will be considered on a case by case basis, and as funds are available.

For questions on eligibility or request for assistance you may contact the Village Public Safety Administrator by email at: publicsafety@godfreyil.org

Or you can contact the village Building & Zoning Administrator, Laura Dixon at either her office #: (618) 466-1206 or her email: buildingzoning@godfreyil.org

For any questions or concerns related to this press release you may contact Judy Peipert in the Mayor’s office at (618) 466-3324

For questions or concerns regarding any immediate Village related safety issues during the recovery you can contact Chris Sichra at publicsafety@godfreyil.org

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