Clean up on aisle 5

Something else that doesn't add up is trying to reconcile the multiple statistics often quoted concerning missing children. The intent is not to question the contribution but merely to understand the effectiveness of the effort. Sometimes I feel like a dunce, sometimes I don't.

Wal-Mart and SAM’S Club

“As a part of our commitment to keeping kids safe, the Missing Children’s Network was formed through a partnership between Wal-Mart, SAM'S CLUB and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Wal-Mart's Missing Children's Network consists of a bulletin board in every Wal-Mart Store and SAM'S CLUB nationwide. Each bulletin board contains 17 posters of missing children, along with relevant personal information, and is updated monthly. The visibility of the Missing Children's Network bulletin boards and pictures featured on Wal-Mart Television Network permeates big cities and small towns in every corner of the country providing tremendous exposure .To date, photos of over 7,200 children have been displayed. 5,763 of these have been recovered and 143 recoveries resulted directly from one of our boards”.

http://www.missingkids.com

What Wal-Mart Does to Help Find Missing Children.
(See previous post) http://www.walmartfoundation.org

Simple math?

Partnership began in 1996 so it is now 10 years old.
Each bulletin board contains 17 posters updated monthly
To date, photos of over 7,200 children have been displayed

17 posters x 12 months = 204 postings/yr
(assumes new missing children posted each month)

204 postings/yr= 2,040 over ten years.

So is the 7,200 number understated or overstated? Are the updates more frequent?