New
Sesame military special to air December 27
Sesame
Workshop expands Military Families Initiative with a primetime special,
"When Parents are Deployed" hosted by Actor Cuba Gooding
Jr. and premiering December 27 at 9 pm eastern on PBS
Courtesy
of Sesame Workshop
December
15, 2006
|
Elmo
learns about deployment from his parents. |
With
more than 700,000 children of military families under the age of
five separated from their mother or father this holiday season Sesame
Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street,
has responded with a program geared to address the challenges military
families face with deployment.
The
half-hour television special, entitled When Parents are Deployed,
will be hosted by Academy Award winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr.,
premiering Wednesday, December 27 at 9pm ET/PT on PBS (check local
listings). Sesame
Workshop recently launched a partnership with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc,
with additional support from The New York State Office of Mental
Health (NYSOMH) and Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC), to
create an educational outreach program titled, Talk, Listen, Connect:
Helping Families During Military Deployment.
The
program was created to assist the children of the military cope
with the enormous separation anxiety they face when a parent is
called to duty. A total of 385,000 Talk, Listen, Connect kits will
be distributed. The entire kit is also available on-line at www.sesameworkshop.org/tlc.
The website also provides a music clip of the song "Proud"
sung by Elmo and his dad. This clip can be sent electronically to
a loved one accompanied by a special text message.
While
interviewing the military families who were included in Talk, Listen,
Connect, Sesame Workshop producers were continually impressed by
the families' selflessness and sense of duty. Out of this admiration
and respect came the idea to make their stories available for all
Americans to see. With funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
(CPB), Sesame Workshop created When Parents Are Deployed, geared
to military parents and caregivers.
When
Parents Are Deployed reveals candid and intimate moments with the
parents, caregivers and children impacted by deployment. They express
how they are coping with the daily stress and fears associated with
having a parent depart for military duty, and how families deal
with that member when they return home after serving their country.
As the holidays can be a very difficult time for military families,
Sesame Workshop saw this special as way to illustrate how this group
of Americans is managing during times of extended separation.
|
The
half-hour television special, entitled When Parents are Deployed,
will be hosted by Academy Award winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. |
"The
overwhelming response that we received to the Talk, Listen Connect
outreach program confirmed to us that we were indeed fulfilling an
unmet need for the youngest members of our military families,"
said Sesame Workshop President and CEO Gary E. Knell. "We also
felt that it was important to reach as many adult caregivers as possible
with this valuable information. We are grateful to the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting for acknowledging our goals with their generous
funding of the television special When Parents Are Deployed."
"Military
families give so much to community and country," said Patricia
Harrison, CPB President and CEO. "The demands of military life
can be especially hard on children who are separated from their
Mom and Dad during the holiday season. CPB is proud to help our
troops and their families through our support of When Parents Are
Deployed."
When Parents
Are Deployed was made possible by CPB and portions of the special
were contributed by Wal-Mart as part of their support of Talk, Listen,
Connect.
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