In partnership with the National Runaway Safeline (NRS), bus company Greyhound Lines will be offering free tickets to runaway children and teenagers, ages 12-21, who wish to return home. The company will be offering roughly 400 tickets a year to help the NRS further its goal of reuniting runaways with their families.

In order to receive a free ticket, adolescents wishing to return home must contact the NRS and be named in an official runaway report. Greyhound will also offer free tickets to the parents or legal guardians of runaway children under 15, in an effort to help the reunion process from both sides. The offer can only be redeemed twice by the same person.

The NRS hotline is in operation 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and can be reached (800) 786-2929. Since beginning in 1995, the organization has helped 16,000 runaway children return to their families.

The National Clearinghouse on Homeless Youths and Families reports that an estimated 6-7% of children in the U.S. run away from their homes every year, or roughly 1.5 million.

Further information about the program can be found on Greyhound’s website. The company offers intercity bus travel from approximately 2,400 locations nationwide.

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In this photo a teenager volunteers and hands out flyers for a missing boy. Getty Images
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