Sesame Workshop On Board Emergency-Preparedness Initiative in China

BEIJING: A new outreach program that supports emergency response and preparedness content for children and their families in China is being sponsored by Sesame Workshop, along with the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) and MSD.

Sesame Street‘s Big Bird was on hand to help launch the new initiative. "A flood came through Sesame Street and destroyed my nest,” Big Bird explained. “It was really scary. But the good thing is that it didn’t hurt any of my friends and they all helped me make a new home. Today I found out about what other things we could do to keep safe and how we can help each other when something like that happens. Gosh, I can’t wait to tell all my friends what I learned!”’

The first phase of the outreach program will see the partners focusing on emergency response, distributing a kit that contains games, activity sheets, a caregiver’s guide and children’s activity books, available in March 2011. The kit is designed to provide children with a sense of stability, safety and normalcy that may be lacking in their lives in the aftermath of a crisis or disaster. A total of 1,000 kits will be distributed to classrooms, reaching some 40,000 children.

The second phase is on preparedness. The kit will contain a DVD with songs and activities that can help children learn about getting ready for emergencies, a parent/caregiver magazine that involves the family creating an emergency plan, and a children’s activity book that shows how different characters’ families prepare for emergencies. This kit will be available in September 2011, with 75,000 kits distributed to individual families in 15 provinces that have been severely impacted by or are prone to crisis.

“For over 40 years, Sesame Workshop has been providing children with educational lessons, laughter through memorable characters and messages of healing,” said Gary E. Knell, the president and CEO of Sesame Workshop. “Children and their families residing in disaster areas are going through a difficult time, and they need the comfort, normalcy, and knowledge that our content can provide. We are honored to collaborate with CYDF, the prestigious philanthropic institution in China. Together, with MSD, a global leader in healthcare, we are supporting early childhood development and addressing critical educational needs for children.”

Secretary-General Tu said that this cooperative project with Sesame Workshop is another major initiative of CYDF to reinforce the development of "Project Hope" and to expand international partnership. “The mission of Project Hope has always been to provide access to reading to every child from rural family. While we have already seen significant impact from the implementation of Project Hope, we are continuing our focus on the comprehensive education and healthy growth of students in Hope Primary Schools. In particular, for students in areas hit by earthquake or other natural disasters, they will need to know how to deal with emergencies and they will need to accumulate knowledge and form habit to better respond to emergencies. With the active support of MSD this time, we are distributing, to some disaster area and other provinces, sets of pamphlets and DVDs covering ‘How to prepare an emergency plan’, ‘help each other in emergencies’ and ‘educational cards’. Tens of thousands of kids in rural area will benefit from this program. At the same time, it is our belief that this cooperative project will be a basis for further and more extensive cooperation in future between CYDF and Sesame Workshop, MSD, as well as other U.S. companies that are with compassion.”

Michel Vounatsos, the senior VP of Merck and president of MSD China, said, "MSD is committed to working with Chinese authorities and partners to improve people’s health and quality of life. Children are the future of the world. We are doing everything to let them grow up happy and healthy and live a better life. Working together with Sesame Workshop and China Youth Development Foundation, MSD is delighted to see that we can help Chinese parents and children to confront natural disaster through enhancing education about emergency response.”