Honeywell and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Announce Sixth Annual 'Got 2B Safe' Awards

America's Safest Teachers Can Win a $10,000 Classroom Makeover

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Feb 09, 2011, 10:07 ET

MORRIS TOWNSHIP, N.J., Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Honeywell (NYSE: HON) and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) today announced the launch of the sixth annual "Got 2B Safe!" Awards. The program is designed to encourage teachers at U.S. elementary schools to help their students learn valuable and potentially life-saving lessons. While most are recovered quickly, the U.S. Department of Justice reports that an estimated 2,000 children are reported missing each day.

Got 2B Safe! provides teachers with child safety teaching tools and annually recognizes five teachers who develop the most creative lesson plans. Winners receive a classroom makeover worth $10,000 and 100 other teachers will win $500 worth of school supplies. Makeovers include an overall redesign of the classroom with themes chosen by the teachers, and materials including the Got 2B Safe! safety rules. The Got 2B Safe! Awards program will be open until March 25, 2011. Educators can log on to www.got2bsafe.com for information about the contest and to submit an essay emphasizing how they effectively taught their students the Got 2B Safe! Four Rules of Safety for a chance to win.

"Our children are our most precious asset and protecting them from harm is becoming an increasingly difficult challenge," said Tom Buckmaster, president, Honeywell Hometown Solutions. "The Got 2B Safe! Awards program affords teachers an opportunity to arm our children with positive, empowering lessons; enabling them, parents and their communities to be vigilant about personal safety."

Since 2003, Honeywell and NCMEC have worked together on Got 2B Safe! The program fills a critical gap – no other nationwide abduction prevention program exists for schools. Got 2B Safe! focuses on educating eight to ten-year-olds and their families on how to help prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation. It provides teachers, parents and guardians with tools to keep children safer. To date Got 2B Safe! has been distributed to 240,000 principals and teachers, and more than 72,000 schools in the United States- reaching an estimated five million students.

"Teaching children about personal safety should be a priority," said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC. "We are excited to be working with Honeywell on the Got 2B Safe! Awards program, to educate teachers, children and the community-at-large about how to prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation."

Got 2B Safe! teaches simple rules to help prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation through the Got 2B Safe! Four Rules of Safety:

Check First -- Children should always check with parents and guardians before accepting gifts, rides, or invitations from anyone, including friends, acquaintances and people they don't know.
Go With a Friend -- Simple and straightforward -- never go anywhere alone. Being with another person in public is safer and more fun.
It's My Body - Teach your children they have the right to say NO to any unwelcome, uncomfortable, or confusing touch or actions by others.
Tell a Trusted Adult -- Teach your children to TELL a trusted adult -- parent, guardian, teacher, etc. -- if anyone or anything makes them feel scared, uncomfortable or confused.

"While fifth graders are techno-savvy beings, their decision-making skills are still developing," said Robin Keating, a 2010 Grand Prize Winner. "By capitalizing on their love of technology, I work to equip my fifth graders with better judgment skills to help them transition into a new state of independence. Utilizing current Web 2.0 tools and technology, I provide engaging activities that reinforce the Got 2B Safe! rules to protect them from exploitation."

The Got 2B Safe! program has won nine awards within the corporate social responsibility industry. It is a signature program of Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company's corporate citizenship initiative.

About Honeywell

Honeywell www.honeywell.com is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes, and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell's shares are traded on the New York, London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywellnow.com.

About Honeywell Hometown Solutions

The Got 2B Safe! program is part of Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company's corporate citizenship initiative, which focuses on five areas: Family Safety & Security; Housing & Shelter; Science & Math Education, Humanitarian Relief and Habitat & Conservation. Together with leading public and non-profit institutions, Honeywell has developed powerful programs to address these needs in the communities it serves. For more information, please go to www.honeywell.com/hhs.

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984, the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children's hotline which has handled more than 2,528,730 calls. It has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 157,720 children. The organization's CyberTipline has handled more than 1,003,970 reports of child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed and analyzed more than 44,340,920 pornography images and videos. The organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To learn more about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit its web site at www.missingkids.com.