Saturday marked the two-and-a-half year anniversary of the disappearance of Jason Jolkowski of Omaha, whose parents are now reaching out to other families going through a similar ordeal.

On June 13, 2001, 19-year-old Jason Jolkowski told his family he was walking from his Benson home to catch a ride to work. He has not been seen or heard from since. Jason's parents have put every resource into finding their son and as their search continues, they are also reaching out to other families to share the resources they've found. "I think that it helps that we do something for other people rather than focusing on our ongoing grief because it is a unique set of circumstances and a unique grief that you deal with and it doesn't stop," said Jason's mother Kelly.

Project Jason will offer families of the missing resources for their search and emotional support. A raffle was their first fundraiser for the new non-profit group. "Actually I think it's great," said father Jim. "Every cloud has a silver lining. If we can alleviate any pain for families of missing people, that's really great."

Among the winners of the kickoff drawing was Tonya Hoss. "A gift certificate to Carlos O'Kelly's." Rita Baughman won hair care products. "That one will be very useful. There's two girls." Both women plan to enjoy the prizes, but it's their belief in the project that got them to buy tickets. It's that same reason Kelly's co-worker Dan Buck joined the Project Jason board as treasurer. "I really understand a lot of the experiences she's been through just by being involved with her and I have a lot of younger family members I am very close to that I just couldn't imagine going through something like that."

"It does show that one person can make a difference and we know very soon that we will make a difference in the lives of those families whose lives have been torn apart with this tragedy," said Kelly.

The Web site for Project Jason, projectjason.org, includes Jason's story and the stories of other people still missing. For more information you may also write to Project Jason, P.O. Box 3035, Omaha, Nebraska 68103.