Blue Star Families Celebrates the Month of the Military Child

This month Blue Star Families recognizes Month of the Military Child through a variety of events held around the country. As the nation’s largest chapter-based military families support organization, Blue Star Families embraces this unique time to honor and support military children.

“Our military children show tremendous resilience and have been through innumerable separations, especially during this past twelve-plus years of war,” said Kathy Roth-Douquet, CEO of Blue Star Families. “The Month of the Military Child is a great way to honor our military kids and show our appreciation for their contributions to the military community.”

Events hosted by Blue Star Family this month include letter-writing campaigns via Operation Appreciation, Books on Bases literacy events, community festivals, circus events and more! Visit Blue Star Families for a complete list.

For those military families who do not live near one of these even locations, Blue Star Families encourages parents to help their child go online and print the Military Child Certificate of Appreciation. 

Blue Star Families Receives Be a STAR Grant

Blue Star Families, the country’s largest chapter-based support organization for military families, recently received the first-ever Be a STAR (Show Tolerance and Respect) grant for its MilKidz Club program. The MilKidz Club provides all military children, regardless of rank, branch of service, or military installation, with resources, mentoring and opportunities that will empower them to become leaders in their community.

Be a STAR is an anti-bullying initiative founding in 2011 with The Creative Coalition and WWE. The initiative’s goal is to use education and awareness to encourage young people to treat others with tolerance and respect. With the grant, Blue Star Families will incorporate Be a STAR’s lessons of Courage, Responsibility, Dignity, Friendship, Advocacy, Resiliency, Empathy, Identity and Morality into its monthly programs and after-school activities.

“Blue Star Families appreciates the support of The Creative Coalition and WWE, allowing us to help even more students learn how to Be a STAR,” said Sheri Robey-Lapan, Blue Star Families’ Senior Director of Programs. “Our military children show tremendous resilience each time they enter a new school… By incorporating Be a STAR lessons in our MilKidz Club and after-school activities, more military and non-military students will better understand what their fellow students are going through.” 

Blue Star Families Partners to Create Spouse Ambassador Network

Last week the United States Department of Defense deepened its commitment to helping military spouses find jobs by launching the Spouse Ambassador Network, which will be a new arm of the department’s Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program. The Spouse Ambassador Network is made possible by SECO’s Military Spouse Employment Partnership and several military support organizations, including Blue Star Families, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Military Family Association. More than 200 businesses have joined the partnership as well, pledging to hire military spouses.

The Spouse Ambassador Network was created in collaboration with military spouses. “Well-networked” military husbands and wives were asked what career information and resources would be helpful to them when looking for jobs. As a result, the SECO website offers articles, links, networking opportunities, skill assessments and access to personality assessments that could guide spouses when making a career choice. The career center will be accessible 24/7 on the Military OneSource website and will even offer individuals the ability to transfer their LinkedIn profiles to the SECO site.

“[The partner companies] recognize the value of military spouses, and that they have the kinds of skills and talent that most employers are looking for in the 21^st century,” said Meg O’Grady. “They’re resilient, flexible, natural team players, and tend to be very local. Our employers have told us that bringing a military spouse into their organization creates a real value for that business.”

Disney Donates Books to Blue Star Families' Books on Bases Program

Blue Star Families has an exciting new partnership! Recently, the non-profit committed to supporting and empowering military families, partnered with the Walt Disney Company to grow its Books on Bases program. In June, more than 250 Army and Marine Corps family members from Joint Base Fort Myer-Henderson Hall near Washington, DC, received free books from Disney. Mickey Mouse made a surprise appearance at the event, where families also took part in group readings and craft activities.

Books on Bases was created by BSF as a way to positively impact the lives of military children through the power of reading. A healthy love of books can help military children cope with absent parents, frequent moves and other life changes. Other partners and supporters of the program include BAE Systems, Sleeping Bear Press, Operation Paperback, United Concordia and Random House. To date, the program has touched more than 150,000 lives and Disney’s donation of more than 30,000 books will go a long way to help the program continue to grow and prosper.

Connie Milstein is a member of the Blue Star Families Board of Directors and a Washington, DC local. She has been a long-term supporter of active duty military members, military families and our country’s veterans. 

Connie Milstein and BSF Host Holiday Luncheon at at Walter Reed

Last month, Connie Milstein partnered with Neiman Marcus, Fidelis Security and Blue Star Families to host the 2012 holiday luncheon at Walter Reed Medical Center. Each winter wounded warriors, caregivers and their families are treated to an afternoon filled with tasty treats, holiday crafts and games, and a visit from Santa. This year guests were treated to a performance by the Annapolis Area Christian School’s Madrigals Choir and a special Christmas story read by Darlene Greenert. Also inattendance was Deputy Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter; Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, George Little; Commanding Officer of Walter Reed Admiral Stocks and his wife; Surgeon General of the Navy, Admiral Matthew Nathan; and the wife of Admiral Anderson Chief Medical Office of the Marine Corps, Paula Anderson.

This annual BSF event allows wounded warriors to celebrate what is important during the holidays with their families and caregivers, even if they cannot be at home. Each family left the event this year with a family portrait with Santa, books, holiday cards and other special gifts. Nearly 200 BSF volunteers, including Connie Milstein – a member of the non-profit’s Board of Directors, gathered to organize the holiday event.

Facebook Launches Suicide-Prevention Services for Military Families, Active Duty Members and Veterans

Last week, Facebook announced a new partnership with Blue Star Families and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide customized crisis support to military families who are at risk for depression or suicide. Facebook launched suicide-prevention services in December, but the new, military-centric service will provide users connected to active-duty service members, military family members and veterans with content and services tailored to the military – including the Veterans Crisis Line.  

Facebook is a lifeline and a major way of communication for many members of military families. Not only do they use the social network to talk to deployed family member and loved ones, but can use it to connect with other military families going through similar experiences. The 2012 Blue Star Families Military Family Lifestyle Survey showed that 90 percent of the 4,000 military families surveyed reported some level of Facebook usage. Eight-six percent said they were on the Facebook website daily. The survey also revealed that the percentage of military family members who have pondered suicide is nearly equal to the number of service members who have also contemplated suicide. 

Connie Milstein serves as a member of the Blue Star Families Board of Directors.

Blue Star Families Builds Playground As Part Of 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance

As part of the 9/11 Day of Service and Rememberance, volunteers from Blue Star Families joined others from KaBOOM!, Northrop Grumman and the Fort Meade Community Covenant Council to build a new playground at Fort Meade’s Burba Park. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was present to lend a hand and get the volunteers fired up. The Day of Service coincided with Blue Star Families’ Operation Honor Cards initiative, which encourages citizens to honor military families, veterans and service members through volunteer efforts.

“It’s that [American] dream that brings us all out here today to make sure that through our work and through our service and through our dedication, we make certain that these kids have a better life in this country,” Secretary Panetta said at the start of the project.

The Burba Park playground will provide military families and hundreds of children with a new, safe place to play at Fort Meade. At the end of 2011, KaBOOM! will have worked to build over 150 playgrounds across the country. In the closing months of this year, the organization will partner with more than 10,000 volunteers to build the final 60 playgrounds as citizens donate their time in honor of military members, families and veterans.

“We are grateful to KaBOOM! and all of today's volunteers for this gift to the military children of Fort Meade,” said Mark D. Smith, Executive Director of Blue Star Families. “Military families have been hit hard by the years of war since 9/11 and this is a wonderful way to say thank you.”

For many years before she became a member of the Blue Star Families Board of Directors, Connie Milstein worked to help military families and veterans. Her accomplishments as a philanthropist and businesswoman made her a perfect fit with BSF.

Connie Milstein and BSF Team Efforts

Blue Star Families – the organization that was set up to help the military by assisting their families – seeks to “connect the community of military families, both active duty and veterans, regardless of rank, and provide them with the support and empowerment they need to create the best personal and family life possible.” BSF Director Connie Milstein saw the need for this service, which really joins together the soldiers, their families and the community at large. The BSF posts blog spots for this aim, writing about topics that are of interest to everyone. Military families can receive advice and support on how to cope when their soldiers that are deployed and sorting out everyday life matters on their own during this time. Just recently, a chapter director of BSF from southern California, Reyna Reyna, commented on how their efforts were towards raising “awareness of BSF to military families who live off base….Often when families live in the civilian community they feel isolated, especially when their spouse deploys, she said. “They think they don’t have the same opportunities or benefits as if they lived on base.” There are so many ways that the community at large can get involved in helping the military and their families, and the BSF seeks to be a bridge between the two.

Blue Star Families Lifestyle Survey

Earlier this week Blue Star Families released its 2010 Military Family Lifestyle Survey, in an attempt to get an idea of the major issues encountered by these families. The results were: “pay and benefits, the current operational tempo, the effects of deployments on children, spouse employment, and childrens education.”

Some months after the original survey was conducted, these results were presented at a Senate and House Military Family Caucuses joint session. It was then cited by a White House Report, ‘Strengthening Our Military Families: Meeting America’s Commitment.’ This was the “culmination of a Presidential Directive and the findings of the Military Family Interagency Committee, created in 2010 to institutionalize support for military families as a national security priority.”

Thus the initiative undertaken by Blue Star Families has been successful. A commitment has been made by President Barack Obama and his wife, along with Jill Biden for “Federal agencies to establish a coordinated and comprehensive Federal approach to supporting military families.” The goal is to now address four main areas: a) enhance the military family’s physical and mental welfare; b) excellent education and development for military children; c) establish “career and educational opportunities for military spouses” and d) improved and increased child care options.
A big supporter of the work of BSF is Connie Milstein, who sits on the Board of Directors.

Recent News at Blue Star Families

Bloggers from around America recently got together in New York for the annual BlogHer convention. Blue Star Families also participated in the event. This is not the first BlogHer that has taken place and it was a very exciting event, like it has been in previous years. It was the Blue Star Museums event planned at the Museum of Modern Art during the BlogHer convention that seemed to be very popular amongst participants. Some of the attendees included: Kate Marsh Lord from The Shopping Mama, Maggie Christ from Magpie Musings, Cynthia Samuels from Don't Gel Too Soon and Devra Renner of Parentopia. Connie Milstein firmly believes in the importance of military service while supporting the families of the soldiers engaging in this vital service. She sees it as a way to give back to a country that has given her so much.