Sesame Street Helps Military Kids Deal with Loss

August 26th, 2010 12:00 AM

It's not often you hear good news about what corporations or the media are doing for society. That's what makes an Aug. 26 report in The Wall Street Journal so special.


Reporer Laura Landro reported on the work of Sesame Workshop, the company behind “

Sesame Street
,” to help military kids deal with the stress and pain that can come with parents being deployed, injured, or killed.


“Over the past few months, Sesame Workshop has distributed more than one million “When Families Grieve” multimedia kits to support groups and families,” Landro wrote. The programs feature well-known Muppet characters like Elmo as well as real military families sharing their stories.


The inspiration for the programs came from a desire to offer genuine support for the troops and their families. Sesame Workshop President Gary Knell told the Wall Street Journal he read a story about a family that lost its home to foreclosure while the father was deployed. “'I just was so sick of seeing all these 'support the troops' posters when we were allowing things like this to happen,'” he said.


Landro also noted who's making the programs possible: “deep-pocketed sponsors like Wal-Mart.” Other partners include the Department of Defense and the American Greetings card company, among several others, according to the Sesame website.


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