American Red Cross and Walmart Foundation Partner to Help Military and Their Families Reconnect on the Homefront

Military members and their families receive support when coming home

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7. 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Red Cross today launched a new program to assist service members returning home from deployment.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090108/RedCrossLOGO)  

Designed to help service men and women and their families successfully manage the transition from the field back into the routine of home life, the Coming Home Series presented by Walmart is a free, confidential set of small-group facilitated sessions designed to help foster positive reconnections between family members and help service members reintegrate into civilian life. The Walmart Foundation awarded a $500,000 grant in support of the program and is the lead sponsor.

"Transitioning back home after a deployment can be hard, and many service members have experienced challenges readjusting into life with their families, their jobs and their communities," said Sherri Brown, Senior Vice President for Service to the Armed Forces. "Through the generosity of Walmart, this new program will help ease that transition."

The Coming Home Series, which will be offered by Red Cross chapters throughout the country, covers a number of topics that service members and their families have found relevant to their experience as they transition back home, including managing anger, supporting children, building communication, reconnecting with others, recognizing Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and other topics critical to reunion adjustment.

"We're proud of our nation's heroes and are grateful for their service and sacrifice," said retired Army Brigadier General Gary Profit, the Senior Director of Military Programs for Walmart.  "We recognize that sometimes those sacrifices mean that their hardship doesn't end once they're back on the homefront.  We want to play a role in addressing unmet needs in the military community, so we're proud to team with the American Red Cross, especially on the Coming Home Series.  We believe this will help bridge the gap that sometimes exists between the battlefield and the backyard."

The series, developed in cooperation with military experts, has been piloted in 8 different locations across the country. It will be available to members of all branches of the Armed Forces, as well as National Guard, Reserves, veterans and their families.

For three years, the Red Cross has assisted military families during the deployment cycle with its course Coping with Deployments: Psychological First Aid for Military Families. This is a national-level course specifically designed to assist spouses, parents, siblings and significant others across all signs of service.

"We've seen just how helpful Coping With Deployments has been to individuals whose loved ones are deployed," Brown said. "We have heard from those families that they are seeking similar assistance when they come home, and we believe the Coming Home Series will help."

The Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces program provides assistance to more than 2 million service members as well as many of the nation's 24 million veterans and their families, wherever they reside. In addition to the Coping with Deployments course and the new Coming Home series, the Red Cross provides emergency communications linking service members with their families during time of crisis; comfort and care in military and veterans medical facilities; access to financial assistance in partnership with the military aid societies; information and referral and assistance to veterans.

More information about this new, no cost and confidential program for military service members and their families can be found at redcross.org and search "Coming Home."

About Philanthropy at Walmart:  Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are proud to support initiatives that are helping people live better around the globe.  In May 2010, Walmart and its Foundation made a pledge of $2 billion through 2015 to fight hunger in the U.S.  The Walmart Foundation also supports education, workforce development, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness initiatives.  To learn more, visit www.walmartfoundation.org.
For more on Walmart's commitment to veterans, visit: http://www.walmartstores.com/veterans.

About the American Red Cross: The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation's blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org.

SOURCE American Red Cross