PRESS RELEASE FROM THE ARMED SERVICES YMCA
The Armed Services YMCA (ASYMCA), the nation’s leading nonprofit organization supporting the families of junior enlisted military personnel, today announced the scheduled release of MY HERO, a book comprised of entries from ASYMCA’s 2007 Student Essay and Art Contest, on Thursday, May 15. Twenty percent of the sales of MY HERO directly benefit ASYMCA programs that provide educational, recreational, social and spiritual support services for our troops and their families.
Each year, the ASYMCA holds a national contest inviting children of U.S. service members to write an essay about their military hero or to illustrate their military family in a drawing. The entries from the 2007 contest were compiled to create MY HERO which is the first book to tell the stories of military kids and how they are affected by their parents’ deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. The children wrote about the pride they feel for their country and their families and the unique challenges they face. A few children even wrote about the difficulties they faced when a military parent was killed in combat.
“The ASYMCA received hundreds of essays and artwork from students across the nation dealing with the unique challenges of deployment and military life in general. Because the stories told by the essays were so incredibly heartfelt and moving, we felt that we needed to share them with the rest of America,” said ASYMCA National Executive Director Frank Gallo, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.). “MY HERO is an amazing, inside look at the sacrifices, struggles and challenges our military kids face each day. What’s more, these essays are entitled ’My Hero’ because that’s what our men and women in uniform are — heroes — especially to their own children. As Memorial Day quickly approaches, we are pleased to release MY HERO in honor of our military members and their families.”
In light of the release of MY HERO, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas will introduce a congressional resolution naming May 15 “Military Kids Day.” The resolution states that, “Whereas the strength of character, humor and honesty offered by these children are a hallmark for all of us to follow as we face the challenges of everyday life… May 15, 2008 is named Military Kids Day across the United States and in our Armed Forces bases throughout the world.”
MY HERO includes praise from former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In addition, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf provided the preface, in which he said, “They [the essays] are funny, sad, perceptive, and, above all, honest. Sometimes heartbreakingly so. With parents like these, with children like these, our country’s future will never be in doubt.”
ASYMCA operates more than 150 program centers around the globe. The ASYMCA has consistently provided educational, recreational, social and spiritual programs to military members and their families since the Civil War. It earned a four-star rating from Charity Navigator for the second consecutive year, and an A- rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy. In 2007 alone, more than 9,200 individuals nationwide volunteered their time to help ASYMCA serve nearly 400,000 military family members. The ASYMCA, an affiliate of the YMCA of the USA, is headquartered in Alexandria, Va. For more information, please visit www.asymca.org.
