About Joining Forces

The First Lady and Dr. Biden have met with military families, learned about their successes and challenges, and made it their priority to support them. Joining Forces is a comprehensive national initiative to mobilize all sectors of society to give our service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned.

Joining Forces:

• Brings attention to the unique needs and strength of America’s military families. 
• Inspires, educates, and sparks action from all sectors of our society – citizens, communities, businesses, non-profits, faith based institutions, philanthropic organizations, and government – to ensure veterans and military families have the opportunities, resources, and support they have earned.
• Showcases the skills, experience, and dedication of America’s veterans and military spouses to strengthen our nation’s communities.
• Creates greater connections between the American public and the military.

In this ongoing effort, they’re highlighting issues that are of special importance to the military families they have met with across the country, including the areas of employment, education, and wellness.

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Corporation for National and Community Service, YSA (Youth Service America)
Bring Americans Together to Honor Dr. King’s Legacy

YMCA READS!, a mentoring and student assistance program sponsored by the Florida State Alliance of YMCAs (www.floridaymcas.org) is one of 17 organizations nationwide awarded grants to lead service projects and dialogue on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service to transform Dr. King’s life and teachings into community service that helps create change in communities across the country. These organizations will bring communities together to bridge differences and address issues in economic opportunity, community health, the environment, education and literacy, disaster preparedness and response, and support veterans and military families.

The YMCA READS! Program provides free reading tutoring and mentoring services to struggling young readers throughout Florida through a public/private partnership between the Florida State Legislature, the Florida Department of Education, the Florida State Alliance of YMCAs, 10 participating YMCAs, 16 public schools and hundreds of community volunteers.

On the week prior to Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 16), YMCA READS! participants and volunteers will partner with United Through Reading (www.unitedthroughreading.org) to assemble eight kits containing video cameras, tripods, DVDs, children’s books, cards and letters of support, and small gifts for troops being deployed overseas. Servicemen and women will be given the opportunity to be recorded on camera while reading a story to their children from afar, and their families will be recorded listening to the story. This will allow a “circle of communication” between our soldiers and their families. As parents, they will be able to remain involved in their children’s literacy acquisition. Families and servicemen and women will be able to keep the recorded stories and books as keepsakes of a time when though separated, they were able to remain “united through reading”. During the week prior to Martin Luther King Day, YMCA READS! and United Through Reading will engage 3,000 volunteers to write letters, assemble kits, get donations of books and morale-boosting items. We invite you to participate in our project: contact Madeleine Hennings, YMCA READS! Statewide Director for information at mhennings@TheSarasotaY.org.

“I am entranced by the work of this organization, which manages to unite deployed military parents with their children at home — through DVDs of the parents reading aloud from favorite books, which the child at home can read from, with mom or dad.“   [read complete article]

Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, poses for a picture with students from White Oaks Elementary School in Burke, VA., at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., Dec. 12, 2011. Biden hosted a holiday party for the students to raise awareness of military families and the challenges they face. DOD photo by Elaine Sanchez

By Elaine Sanchez
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2011 – Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, invited about 25 elementary school students, a few teachers — and one special guest in Afghanistan — to a military-themed holiday party in their home at the U.S. Naval Observatory here today.

Throughout the party, Biden spotlighted the importance of military family support for the children — a fourth-grade class from nearby White Oaks Elementary School in Burke, Va.

After greeting each of the children — all dressed in their holiday best — at the door, she invited them to join her around the Christmas tree in her living room for a discussion about her own experiences as a military mom.

Biden held up a framed picture of her son, Army Maj. Beau Biden of the Delaware National Guard, with his young son, Hunter, in his arms. The picture, she told the children, was taken the day he returned from a yearlong deployment in Iraq. “I know what it’s like to have someone in your family who is deployed,” she said.

Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, joins children for a reading of “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” by Army Maj. James Blain, who is deployed in Afghanistan, at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., Dec. 12, 2011. Blain’s son, Jimmy, was among the children at the party. DOD photo by Elaine Sanchez

She then asked Army Col. Rebecca Porter, a clinical psychologist from the Army Surgeon General’s Office, to talk to the children — mostly from nonmilitary families — about the impact deployment has on kids, especially during the holidays, and how students can support military families in their community.

Biden then kicked off her heels and joined the children on the floor in front of the tree to make holiday cards for deployed troops. The card-making event was sponsored by the American Red Cross’ Holiday Mail for Heroes program, which collects and distributes holiday cards to service members, veterans and their families around the world.

But the event’s highlight, especially for one of the students, was the holiday book reading in the next room.

Army Maj. James Blain, deployed in Afghanistan since June, appeared on screen to read the book “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” to his 9-year-old son, Jimmy, and his classmates. Blain earlier recorded the book-reading through United Through Reading, an organization that enables deployed service members to video-record themselves reading books to their children. Deployed troops can read from more than 270 recording stations around the globe, according to an organization fact sheet.

Army Maj. James Blain reads the book, “Mickey’s Christmas Carol,” as a student follows along in the vice president’s residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., Dec. 12, 2011. Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, hosted a holiday party for children from White Oaks Elementary School in Burke, Va., to raise awareness of the need for military family support. DOD photo by Elaine Sanchez

Jimmy listened intently. He’s been in touch with his dad, but mostly over the phone. There’s nothing like seeing him face to face, he said after his dad finished the book.

His mom, Tina Blain, who attended the party with all four of her children, agreed. “Having the DVDs has been a huge bonus for us because we can see Daddy whenever we want.”

Approaching the holidays without Dad is tough on the children, she added. “To see him so positive and so up going into the holidays is good for them,” she said.

Biden also noted the importance of programs such as United Through Reading, which recently pledged to double its commitment to Army and National Guard families in the next two years. Since the program began in 1989, more than 1 million beneficiaries have been served, a news release said.

“It means a lot to children and helps them stay connected with their moms or their dads” while they’re deployed, Biden told American Forces Press Service. “I know in my own family, my son read books to our grandchildren and they loved just hearing their dad’s voice.”

Biden noted that Jimmy’s parents were worried that their 2-year-old son, Matthew, would forget what his dad looked like. This program, however, has set their minds at ease, she said, citing Matthew’s reaction when his father appeared on screen at the party. As soon as he saw his father, Matthew, perched on his mom’s lap, called out, “Daddy, Daddy!”

4th graders from White Oaks Elementary School in Burke, VA make cards for deployed service members in the vice president’s residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., Dec. 12, 2011. Jimmy’s father, Army Maj. James Blain, is deployed in Afghanistan. DOD photo by Elaine Sanchez

Biden said the party was intended to raise awareness of military families and the need to support them, which also is the aim of the Joining Forces campaign, a military-support initiative First Lady Michelle Obama and Biden started earlier this year. It’s important for people without a loved one in the military to understand the military experience, she noted.

Particularly around the holidays, “it’s important we remember and commit to an act of kindness,” she said, whether it’s taking cookies to a military family, bringing them dinner, or packing care packages. Biden said she and her family recently packed Christmas stockings for deployed service members together.

“We are ending the war in Iraq … but we still have many, many [service members] deployed in Afghanistan,” Biden said. “We have to remember them and be thankful for their service and what they’ve done for us and this country.”

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Sustains Historic Presence With All Deployed Service Members and Their Families

San Diego, CA – December 8, 2011 United Through Reading, the nation’s first nonprofit to promote the read-aloud experience for military families, today pledged to double its commitment to U.S. Army and National Guard families in the next two years as part of its formal support of First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden’s Joining Forces Initiative. Thousands of additional families will be served.

The nonprofit organization, created in 1989, allows deployed parents to video-record books to their children, which eases the stress of separation, maintains positive emotional connections and cultivates a love of reading. Since the program began, more than one million beneficiaries have been served.

“United Through Reading can be found at more than 260 recording locations worldwide,” said Sally Ann Zoll, Ed.D., chief executive officer of United Through Reading. “U.S. troops can read to their children from command units on ships, in tents in the desert and at 70 USO centers worldwide. With our efforts to double our commitment to the Army and National Guard, we will serve many more military families.” 

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden launched Joining Forces, a national initiative to support and honor America’s service members and their families on April 12.

“United Through Reading’s efforts to expand its impact into the homes of more Army and National Guard families is another great example of how we can all step up to support military families in our community and we thank them for their work,” said Brad Cooper, Executive Director of Joining Forces.

“For 22 years, United Through Reading has helped strengthen family resiliency by easing the fear, uncertainty and anxiety felt by children in military families,” said Zoll. “We are thrilled to support the Joining Forces initiative and heartily applaud First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Biden for leading the charge on this vital initiative.”

United Through Reading serves more than 325,000 beneficiaries per year. Research shows that more than 75 percent of users of the program believe it reduced their child’s anxiety about deployment and more than 85 percent have said that it helped the service member stay emotionally connected despite the miles. There have been more than one million beneficiaries of the program since its inception. 

Joining Forces was created by Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden to address the unique challenges and needs military families face and to encourage all Americans to support our troops and their families. For more information, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces.

Related Article:
United Through Reading Supports First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden’s Joining Forces Initiative by Doubling Commitment to Army and National Guard by 2013

PGA TOUR Player Rory Sabbatini and his wife, Amy, accepting the Angel Award

Congresswoman Susan Davis

Honorary Chair and bestselling children’s author, Laura Numeroff

Doug Stewart, United Through Reading Board of Trustees member and Vice President, Legislative Affairs, BAE Systems speaking on behalf of Title Sponsor, BAE Systems.

United Through Reading CEO, Sally Ann Zoll, Ed.D.

Laysha Ward, President Community Relations & Target Foundation

RADM Jim Johnson, MC USN (Ret), SDMAC President-­Elect 2012

United Through Reading celebrated serving those parents who take the time to read a bedtime story no matter where they are in the world at the third annual Storybook Ball on November 12, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine.

The gala fundraising event, with title sponsorship by BAE Systems, and chaired by Jan Krystkowiak with Honorary Chair, Laura Numeroff, author of the bestselling series that began with ‘If You Give a Mouse a Cookie’, was a joyous success.

Approximately 300 friends of United Through Reading gathered to enjoy good food, fine wines, fantastic silent and live auctions, along with moving tributes to our honorees.
We were pleased to honor San Diego Military Advisory Council (SDMAC), for creating an essential network for communication and collaboration to advance the wellbeing of our military; Target for a stellar parternship that has, since 2005, provided Target Starter Kits full of the best children’s books, DVDs and mailers to new commands, contributed vital funding for new initiatives and program growth, and has become an active partner in our pursuit of technology solutions that will help ensure we can serve service members wherever they are in the world.

PGA Tour player Rory Sabbatini and his wife, Amy were the recipients of this year’s Angel Award for their commitment to military families and their steadfast generosity and commitment to United Through Reading.

The Board of Trustees and the staff of United Through Reading are grateful for the support of our donors and humbled by the service of our volunteers. Our heartfelt thanks to all who participated in our 2011 Storybook Ball!

United Through Reading Featured on CNN