Military Families and Veterans Initiative

'Joining Forces' with Sesame Street in Ohio

Following last week’s launch of “Joining Forces,” first lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden hit the road together to support the military community. Sierra Club was invited to help celebrate military children and families at an event with Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, the USO, Sesame Street and Nick Jonas (of the Jonas Brothers) at a community event in Columbus, Ohio.

The event was held at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium and was filled with excited kids waiving Elmo glow sticks in the air as they anxiously awaited the opening act. Nick Jonas started us off with a few popular songs and then Elmo took the stage. Grover, Cookie Monster and others from Sesame Street joined Elmo for a few songs. But the star of the show was the new character, Katie, a military child who was coping with the upcoming move her family was planning. The Sesame Street characters reminded Katie of all the ways they would be able to stay in touch and reassured her of all the new friends she would make on her next adventure. Sesame Street and the USO will be touring the world with a show designed for the military community.

The kids were also thrilled to hear the remarks of Michelle Obama and Jill Biden. They stormed the stage to get a closer look as the first and second ladies thanked them for the sacrifices they make every day when their families are asked to move or when a parent deploys.

Sierra Club, and our thirty-five guests were pleased to be able to ‘join forces’ with the first and second ladies, the USO, Sesame Street and Nick Jonas to show our support for military families. Colleagues, friends and families of the Sierra Club Ohio chapter participated in the event. We were also honored to be able to include a Wounded Warrior and his family among our delegation.

Just last week, The Sierra Club Foundation announced major grants to YMCA of the USA and the National Military Family Association. The funding will allow thousands of military children and families to experience the healing powers of nature by attending camp as part of Sierra Club’s Military Families Outdoors initiative.

--by Jacqueline Ostfeld, Sierra Club's National Youth Representative

Sierra Club Joins First Lady Michelle Obama in Supporting Military Families Through New Outdoors Initiative

Sierra Club Foundation announces $1 million in grants in support of military families

Washington, DC – Today the Sierra Club joined First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden to announce a new initiative to support and honor military families through the exploration and enjoyment of America's outdoors. 

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:

“The Sierra Club is proud to join First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden in an exciting new initiative to honor our nation's military families through the exploration and enjoyment of the great outdoors.

“At a time when our men and women in uniform face unprecedented hardship, we are honored to be able to lend a hand by giving military families the chance to find solace, peace and support in nature.

“As a first step in this new partnership, The Sierra Club Foundation is proud to announce major grants to YMCA of the USA and the National Military Family Association. The funding will allow thousands of military children and families to experience the healing powers of nature by attending camp.

"Since its creation in 2007, the Sierra Club’s national initiative has brought more than 40,000 service members, veterans and their children to America’s great outdoors, helping to improve their health and well-being, restore their spirits and bring families together after deployment.”

--from Sierra Club's press room

Doing decorated veterans John McCain and John Kerry proud

The Sierra Club means many different things to many different people. Depending on your views about climate change, the EPA, or the oxymoron "clean coal," you may love the Club or hate us. But one thing you can't call us is "unpatriotic."

Ever since John Muir founded the Sierra Club, the organization has taken Americans out into wilderness to give them solace, renewal, and rejuvenation. Sierra Club members everywhere know firsthand what the mountains and rivers do for us and we're eager to share their blessings. If folks are moved to help us protect the environment for future generations, all the better. We've also felt it our responsibility to introduce certain populations to the wonder and healing power of the great outdoors, especially people who don't have the means or the ability to get out themselves. That led to the founding of the Club's Inner City Outings program in the 70s and the Building Bridges to the Outdoors program in the 90s. 

But perhaps most surprising to many, especially to people who may not see eye to eye with us on climate change (to us: a planetary emergency; to them: a hoax), is that The Sierra Club Foundation is one of the largest supporters of veterans and military families in the country (outside the federal government, of course). Through grant awards to the Armed Services YMCA, the National Military Family Association and Outward Bound, the initiative has provided nearly $25 million in funding since 2007 that has allowed over 40,000 military children, families and veterans to participate in multi-day outdoor experiences. That's a lot of money and a lot of adventures by anyone's standards. Some trips enabled active servicemen and women to go on wilderness adventures upon their return home from Iraq or Afghanistan. The trips with Outward Bound have allowed our heroes the time to decompress and find solace in nature. My personal favorite are 'Operation Purple’ camps run by the National Military Family Association. Check out our video “Red, White and Green” to see what the camps are all about. 

So John McCain, or John Boehner for that matter, say what you will about the Sierra Club, just don't call us unpatriotic. We have stood up and offered a helping hand the best way we know how at a time when many Americans and yes, sadly, many of our nation's decision-makers are turning a blind eye to the plight of our veterans and their families. This is why I'm so happy to be where I' am today: The White House. We received a special invitation to an event announcing First Lady Michelle Obama's and Dr. Jill Biden's military families initiative, which will hopefully get military and veterans issues on the front burner where they belong. I am honored to be here, of course, but more honored to be a part of an organization that leads by example and has introduced tens of thousands of our nation's bravest heroes to our nation's most treasured lands.

--by Peter Martin, Executive Director, The Sierra Club Foundation

To learn more about Sierra Club's work with the military, check out www.sierraclub.org/military.    

Natural Military Families

by Martin LeBlanc, Sierra Club's National Youth and Special Projects Director

The positive effects that nature can have on our military community can help provide strength and relief in a time of great stress while a family member is deployed. I have seen first-hand the smile return to the face of a child who has lost a parent in combat but is now surrounded by other children, swimming in a lagoon, who have gone through a similar situation at an Operation Purple Camp run by our partner the National Military Family Association on Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California. Nature has a healing impact on many of us but for the military community it can give them time to reflect, heal and most importantly for children to have fun and forget about the daily struggle.

I am proud to come from a military family. My father and grandfather served, my Pepere (Grandfather for us French-Canadians) served as a marine in the Pacific Theater in World War II and my father attended the Air Force Academy and was a Captain who taught survival school. Early on I saw that the words service and honor were more then that, they were values that were instilled in me. It has been both an inspiring and humbling experience to work with military families and veterans over the past five years and to empower them to have outdoor opportunities to reconnect to each other, their community and to have a special place that nature can give to all of us.

Over a million men and women have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars since 2001. Along with the honorable service so many men and women have given our country, their families are picking up at home and providing such amazing service to their communities. Military families don’t ever feel bad about their situation, they just step up and work to keep things moving forward, there is no “I” in military families. Military families are the backbone of America and I have seen how the outdoors can help give them the energy to keep striving.

Rich Louv, a friend, mentor and author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder has written, that "Progress does not have to be patented to be worthwhile. Progress can also be measured by our interactions with nature and its preservation. Can we teach children to look at a flower and see all the things it represents: beauty, the health of an ecosystem, and the potential for healing? The healing aspect of nature is what I have seen the military community benefit most from outdoor experiences. In my role at the Sierra Club we have helped facilitate over 40,000 military families getting outside since 2007 working with partners like the National Military Family Association, the Armed Services YMCA, and Outward Bound. We feel it is our way of supporting a community that has given all of us so much. For me it has reconnected me to the important benefits that families get when a father and a son who have been apart for a year while he is on deployment get a chance to go fishing together at a National Military Family Association Family Camp in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Nature has a special way of connecting us to each other and to our land.

The United States is blessed with so much natural beauty from the Rocky Mountains to the Everglades, our land is as diverse as its people.  The natural world can play an important role in helping support the military community and I am energized by seeing First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden working so hard to support military families. The outdoors can and must play a leading role in giving the military community a connection and perspective to the land they work so hard to defend. Our homeland is a frontier full of wonder and as former President Teddy Roosevelt and a war hero said so well "It is an incalculable added pleasure to any one's sum of happiness if he or she grows to know, even slightly and imperfectly, how to read and enjoy the wonder-book of nature." We must all come together to keep the wonder book of nature open to the entire military community to thank them and support them for their service to our country.

This blog appeared originally on Planet Explore.