Sesame Workshop Presents Special When Parents are Deployed

NEW YORK, November 21: In
an effort to help military families whose mothers or fathers are stationed far
from home, Sesame Workshop is presenting the program When Parents are
Deployed.

This half-hour special,
hosted by actor Cuba Gooding Jr., will premiere on Wednesday,
December 27 at 9 p.m. on PBS in the U.S., and 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.

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 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,” says 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,” adds Patricia Harrison, the president and CEO
of CPB [Corporation for Public Broadcasting]. “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.”