SESAME STREET PARTNERS WITH THE USO BRINGING THE MUPPETS TO MILITARY FAMILIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Washington, D.C. June 26, 2008 - Sesame Workshop the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street , and the USO (United Service Organizations) today announced The Sesame Street Experience for Military Families: a free traveling tour to military installations across the country. The tour, produced by VEE Corporation, is part of Sesame Workshop’s Talk, Listen, Connect initiative, a military outreach program which launched in 2006. The initiative provides support and offers significant resources for military families with young children experiencing the effects of deployment, multiple deployments or when a parent returns home changed due to a combat related injury. Military families who attend the experience will see a live character performance and receive giveaways and outreach materials from Talk, Listen, Connect and other partners.

The tour officially kicks off on July 8 at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center 29 Palms in California and will visit 43 installations across the country. The announcement was made by Gary E. Knell, President and CEO of Sesame Workshop, Edward A. Powell, President and CEO of USO World Headquarters, Leslye A. Arsht, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy and Sesame Street’s Elmo, Rosita and Grover at the Reserve Officers Association (RSO). For up-to-date tour information and schedule, please visit www.sesamestreet.org/tlc.

“The Sesame Street Experience for Military Families brings the Talk, Listen, Connect DVD and materials to life, and directly to the families who face the challenges of military life each day,” said Gary E. Knell, President and CEO, Sesame Workshop. “Our partnership with the USO further extends this initiative, visiting installations across the nation, to help these families bond through emotionally difficult times, by providing an educational and entertaining show and other outreach activities they can share.”

“This is a terrific, ground-breaking new program for military families,” said Edward A. Powell, President and CEO of USO World Headquarters. “Our partnership with Sesame Workshop on Talk, Listen, Connect has been a great success and The Sesame Street Experience is a creative new way to deliver even more morale-boosting services and programs to our troops and their families.”

TOUR SCHEDULE:

Tour dates subject to change. Please visit www.sesamestreet.org/tlc for the most up-to-date tour information.
Outreach materials for The Sesame Street Experience for Military Families are being provided by: Sesame Workshop, the USO, Military OneSource, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, Military Child Education Coalition and the National Military Family Association. Additionally, Worlds of Discovery (SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Sesame Place) and Beaches Luxury Included® Family Resorts will be offering special discounts for promotional rates for military families.

Talk, Listen, Connect: Deployments, Homecomings, Changes, is a bilingual (English/Spanish) multimedia outreach kit that features the Muppets from Sesame Street and consists of DVDs and print materials for children, parents and caregivers; and American Greetings postcards for families to stay connected. Sesame Workshop has produced and is distributing 500,000 kits at no cost to individual families, schools, child care programs, family support programs, hospitals, rehabilitation centers and other organizations serving the needs of military families. The kits are being distributed with the help of Military OneSource, the New York State Office of Mental Health (NYSOMH), the USO, the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) and other partners. Special emphasis of distribution is on reaching families of the National Guard and Reserves. The kit materials are available online at www.sesamestreet.org/tlc, where streaming video is being provided by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy, allowing families everywhere to view the videos and download the information.

Major support for Talk, Listen, Connect provided in part by: Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Military OneSource, Wal-Mart Foundation and American Greetings Corporation; and additional support from the New York State Office of Mental Health (NYSOMH), the USO, Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) and Joseph Drown Foundation.

About Sesame Workshop:
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization that changed television forever with the legendary Sesame Street. As the single largest informal educator of young children, local Sesame Street programs produced in countries as diverse as South Africa, Bangladesh and India are making a difference in over 120 nations. Using proprietary research to create engaging and enriching content, Sesame Workshop produces programs such as Dragon Tales and Pinky Dinky Doo. In addition, multimedia needs-driven initiatives provide families tools for addressing such issues as children’s health, military deployment and emergency preparedness. As a nonprofit, product proceeds and philanthropic donations support Sesame Workshop’s educational research and creative content for children around the world. Learn more at www.sesameworkshop.org.

About the USO:
The USO (United Service Organizations) provides morale, welfare and recreational services to U.S. military personnel and their families. The USO is a nonprofit, charitable organization, relying on the generosity of the American people to support its programs and services. The USO is supported by Worldwide Strategic Partners AT&T Inc., BAE Systems, Blackwater Worldwide, Clear Channel Communications, The Coca-Cola Company, Gallery Furniture, S & K Sales Co., and TriWest Healthcare Alliance. Other corporate donors, including the United Way and Combined Federal Campaign (CFC-11381), have joined thousands of individual donors to support the USO. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.uso.org.

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JUDGE RULES AGAINST VETS IN PTSD CASE

MEDIA ADVISORY

June 25, 2008

Contact: Amy Fairweather, Iraq Veteran Project (415) 252-4787 ext 356, (415)505-6558; Elinor Roberts, Legal Director (415) 252-4787 ext 317

WHAT: Decision After Trial—VCS, et al. v. Peake, et al.

READ MORE »

TAPS Good Grief Camp offers help to children losing a loved one to war

14th National Survivor Seminar and Good Grief Camp Gives Comfort to Children of the Fallen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 18, 2008

PHOTOS AVAILABLE

WASHINGTON – Losing a parent or sibling who served in the military can be devastating to a child, but war’s tiniest survivors don’t have to cope alone, thanks to TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. More than 300 children, many of whom lost a father or brother serving with the military in Iraq or Afghanistan, attended the TAPS Good Grief Camp over Memorial Day Weekend.

Children attending the camp are paired one-on-one with a military mentor who becomes their special “big brother” or “big sister” for the weekend. They learn coping strategies for dealing with loss through educational activities and gain their own age-appropriate peer support network.

“We’ve found that children who have attended the Good Grief Camp felt a closeness to each other like many have never experienced as they are surrounded by others their age who have experienced a similar loss,” said Heather Campagna, the director of the Good Grief Camp for 2008. “There is a comfort when someone says they understand…and for the first time in many instances, they know it is true.”

The campers also connect their own family’s experience with a national legacy of military service, learning as they visit memorials and participate in ceremonies how our nation honors those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.

Organizers say the depth of loss children experience may not be fully recognized. “When a child loses a parent or another relative in the military, often they suffer secondary losses that are not acknowledged in their lives,” said Campagna. “They might move away from a home, be away from a military base when that is the only thing they have known, have to attend a new school, notice the achingly empty chair at Thanksgiving dinner, and miss their confidante. Connecting with a mentor can be an empowering experience for a child who has already lost so much.”

Mentors said that the experience is very rewarding. “I loved working with the kids. The first time I was exhausted at the end of each day, but I never felt more proud to be in uniform than when a child who has lost a loved one looks up at me,” said Corporal Phillip Vilkas, US Marine Corps.

TAPS will hold Good Grief Camps with a one-day curriculum in conjunction with an adult survivor seminar in 9 locations around the United States this fall, including: Philadelphia, Pa. (July 12); Alabama (July 26); Ind. (August 2); Fort Lewis, Wash.; Ohio; Hawaii; Fort Stewart, Ga.; and Fort Bliss, Texas. A special camp and seminar designed for families who have lost contractors and US government civilians working with the military will be held in Dallas, Texas (August 23).

The public is invited to support TAPS by making a donation online through www.taps.org. TAPS is the nation’s only veteran’s service organization that provides peer-based emotional support, grief and trauma resources, seminars, case work assistance, and 24/7 crisis intervention care for all who have been affected by a death serving in support of the military mission. Services are provided free of charge. For more information go to www.taps.org, call the toll-free crisis line at 800.959.TAPS.

PHOTOS AVAILABLE

High & low-res digital photo files available. Request photos by emailing deadline and file needs to ami@taps.org.

Photo 1

Mentors Help Children Attending TAPS Good Grief Campe Cope With Loss

Monica Williams, 4, of Honolulu, Hawaii was delighted to see her 2007 Good Grief Camp mentor, Javaris Warthen, when she came back to camp this year. For children attending the camp, a relationship with a mentor helps them cope with the loss of a loved one who served in the military. Monica’s father, Sgt. Eugene Williams, died in Iraq in 2003. This is the 14th year TAPS (www.taps.org) has held the Good Grief Camp & National Seminar for Military Survivors. Photo by TAPS.

Photo 2

TAPS Good Grief Campers Lay Wreath at Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery

A wreath made of paper hand tracings from more than 300 children attending the TAPS Good Grief Camp on Memorial Day is placed at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. All of the children attending the camp have lost a loved one serving in the military. Cameron Kocan, 10, from Odessa, Fla., lost his dad, US Air Force Major Keith Kocan, 38. Cierra Becker, 8, lost her father US Army Staff Sergeant Shane Becker in Iraq in April 2007. This is the 14th year TAPS (www.taps.org) has held the Good Grief Camp & National Seminar for Military Survivors. Photo by TAPS.

Photo 3

Wars Tiniest Survivors Send Messages to the Fallen Heroes They’ve Lost

More than 300 children attending the TAPS Good Grief Camp prepare to launch balloons skyward carrying messages to the parents and loved ones they’ve lost during Memorial Day Weekend near Washington, DC. All of the children attending the camp have lost a loved one serving in the military. Many of them lost a parent or older sibling in Iraq or Afghanistan. This is the 14th year TAPS (www.taps.org) has held the Good Grief Camp & National Seminar for Military Survivors. Photo by TAPS.

Photo 4

Hundreds of Balloons Carry Love Skyward From the TAPS Good Grief Camp

Hundreds of balloons journey skyward and carry messages and letters to loved ones lost written by more than 300 children attending the TAPS Good Grief Camp near Washington, DC over Memorial Day weekend. Air traffic at Ronald Reagan National Airport was diverted around the balloon launch site in Crystal City, Va. This is the 14th year TAPS (www.taps.org) has held the Good Grief Camp & National Seminar for Military Survivors. Photo by TAPS.

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PBS Now talks with National Legal Services Program and former service members about wrongful military discharge

PBS NOW travels to Fort Hood to talk with former service members suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder who are now fighting to overturn their wrongful discharge from the military.

Andrew Pogany, Special Investigator for the National Veterans Legal Services Program, and a featured speaker at the CIAV conference, is interviewed. Pogany has worked on over 200 cases of wrongful discharges.

Watch the full story here .

Soldiers risk ruin while awaiting benefit checks

Injured vets draw reduced Army pay while claims are processed

By Michelle Roberts, Associated Press

Photograph by Eric Gay, Associated Press

“Nearly 20,000 disabled soldiers were discharged in the past two fiscal years, and lawmakers, veterans’ advocates and others say thousands could be facing financial ruin while they wait for their claims to be processed and their benefits to come through.”

Read the full story here.