Sesame Street Tour is Huge Success, Supports More Than 76,000 Military Families
They danced. They laughed. They screamed with excitement. More than 76,000 service members and their families showed up in droves for a chance to see their idols – the legendary Muppets of Sesame Street – perform as part of the “Sesame Street Experience for Military Families” USO tour.
Trekking to 23 states in 18 weeks, the lovable Elmo and his friends, Grover, Rosita, Zoe and Cookie Monster visited 42 military bases and performed more than 100 shows for children of all ages. Connecting with kids, as only Sesame Street can, the Muppets touched on a variety of topics that are particularly tough for military children, such as deployments, feeling sad and expressing their feelings.
An extension of Sesame Workshop’s “Talk, Listen, Connect” initiative, a military outreach program launched in 2006, the tour also provided military families with an abundance of fun and educational giveaways. In all, attendees walked away with more than 175,000 toys; 33,000 “Talk, Listen, Connect” kits and 12,000 USO brochures, among many other items.
Having kicked off at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center 29 Palms in California in early July, the tour wrapped up at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois on November 2. Deemed a tremendous stateside success, the tour received more than 70 mentions in the media and was featured on CNN and NBC Nightly News.
Determined to help military families deal with the emotional stresses that come with being a military parent or child of a deployed service member, the USO and Sesame Workshop are currently in talks to extend this successful program to 30 or 35 more military bases in the U.S. and overseas.
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