The Sesame Street/USO Experience for Military Families – the USO’s longest running, free traveling tour based on Sesame Street's military family initiative is celebrating five years of touring the globe. To get the party started, the tour is traveling to 42 installations in 8 countries in the Europe and Pacific regions.
The tour features several of your favorite Sesame Street characters along with Katie, who was created exclusively for this tour and was first introduced to military families in April 2011 by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden at a Joining Forces rally in Columbus, Ohio.
Elmo, Katie and their Sesame Street pals hope you will join the celebration by checking out our list of 5 Things You Can Do to Support Military Families.
- Volunteer at one of the more than 160 USO locations around the world and discover ways you can take action locally.
- Offer to help a military family on the home front who live on or off base. Whether you see that their lawn needs to be mowed or garbage cans taken in, helping with simple household chores and errands can really relieve some of the stress a family may be feeling.
- Teach your child how they can help support military kids in their school by visiting uso.org/get-involved.aspx and or Facebook.com/SesameStreetforMilitaryFamilies.
- Lend an ear to listen to a military spouse as sometimes just having someone there to vent to or talk to when you may feel all alone can be the greatest support of all.
- Say thank you to a military member and their family for their service, sacrifice and strength. Our troops and their families make sacrifices so we don’t have to and those two simple words say so much.
Produced in partnership with VEE, this year's tour showcases the power of friendship when Elmo and his Sesame Street pals help Katie open up about her fears and excitement as she deals with moving to a new place and making new friends. The show comprises a fun-filled character performance with special giveaways and outreach materials for those who attend.
Since its debut in July 2008, the Sesame Street/USO Experience for Military Families has taken its message to more than 248,000 troops and military families and performed 433 shows on 131 military bases in 33 states and 11 countries.