Thank you to our partners, sponsors, alliances and supporters. Without you, we could not serve military families or impact them in such meaningful ways. Our strong 25-year history and our bright vision for the future are possible largely due to your support, generosity and passion for our United Through Reading families. We want to take a moment during the busy holiday season to stop and say thank you to 25 of our alliances that have supported us over the past 25 years.
Thank you so much for all that you do to support the mission of United Through Reading and military families.
1) AT&T
Our new friends at AT&T presented United Through Reading with a $50,000 check at our annual Storybook Ball fundraiser in San Diego this fall. As part of our new partnership with AT&T, they are also supporting our program with an employee book drive in 2015 — we are humbled and grateful!
Randal Okamura, Director External Affairs San Diego/Imperial Counties, AT&T California, presenting a check to Dwayne N. Junker USN (Ret), Chair, UTR Board of Trustees at the 2014 Storybook Ball.
2) AUSA Family Programs
The AUSA Family Programs Directorate addresses the Army family concerns by representing families on a number of Department of Defense and Department of the Army boards, councils and working groups, and through AUSA’s legislative efforts. Our friends at AUSA promote United Through Reading to members through media and visibility at their annual conferences, and we are so grateful.
3) BAE Systems, Inc.
BAE System’s support of United Through Reading began in 2009 with major sponsorship of our annual Storybook Ball and continued with significant and generous support of our program and events through corporate contributions and employee contribution campaigns. The company’s commitment grew even more remarkable with the addition of Douglas Stewart, BAE Systems’ VP, Government Relations, to our Board of Trustees. Doug is truly a prize, and has taken a special role forging the way for United Through Reading’s annual Tribute to Military Families in Washington, D.C. We are honored to be sponsored by BAE Systems and supported by their employees, and we are humbled by their enduring commitment to our men and women in uniform.
United Through Reading CEO Dr. Sally Ann Zoll and Board of Trustees member RADM Fran Holian, USN (Ret) with Jack Nicklaus at a Birdies for the Brave event.
4) Birdies for the Brave
Proudly supported by the PGA TOUR, Birdies for the Brave is a national military outreach initiative dedicated to honoring and showing appreciation to the courageous men and women of the United States Armed Forces and their families. Since 2006, Birdies for the Brave has joined with PGA TOUR players and corporate partners to raise millions of dollars for military homefront groups. United Through Reading became a Birdies for the Brave homefront charity in 2008. Since then, Birdies for the Brave has contributed nearly $630,000. Additionally, our partnership with Birdies for the Brave has provided unexpected and valuable opportunities to bring awareness about our work to communities around the nation. We are grateful to be a part of such a unique, successful effort.
A wounded service member reads to his daughter.
5) Bob Woodruff Foundation
With a generous grant from the Bob Woodruff Foundation, UTR has established pilot sites at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Wounded Warrior Battalion (Fort Belvoir), Wounded Warrior Regiment (Quantico, VA) and Wounded Warrior Battalions East (Camp LeJeune) and West (Camp Pendleton) to provide the opportunity for Wounded, Ill and Injured to participate. Through survey feedback, United Through Reading has confirmed that participation fulfills a unique, complex requirement within this community to emotionally connect with their children, siblings or nieces and nephews. We’re so pleased that the Bob Woodruff Foundation has allowed us to help meet this need for recovering servicemen and women.
6) Booz Allen Hamilton
Founded in 1914, Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) is one of the oldest management consulting companies in the world. BAH has demonstrated a long tradition of support for the military and military families. Since 2013 BAH has provided significant financial support for United Through Reading. They have recently furthered that commitment when BAH Executive Vice President Anthony (Tony) Mitchell joined our Board of Trustees, and we are so lucky to have him!
7) Epsilon Systems Solutions, Inc.
Support from Epsilon Systems Solutions allows UTR to keep overhead rates down by providing meeting space with technology support to bring our staff and trustees together throughout the year for Board and committee meetings. This support allows UTR’s leadership to focus on mission-critical decision making instead of meeting logistics. Additionally, Stuart Teshima, Senior VP & Corporate Controller for Epsilon, sits on UTR’s Board of Trustees as our Chief Financial Officer and Dwayne N. Junker, USN (Ret), Epsilon’s Senior Advisor, Office of the President is our Board Chair. Our Board is all the more effective and powerful with them on our team.
8) First Book
Our dear friends at First Book provide new books to children in need, including military children, addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy – access to books. Through the First Book Marketplace, qualifying organizations like United Through Reading can purchase brand-new books at 50-90% off the market price. We work with First Book to provide quarterly book shipments to military commands so that participating military members have access to high quality and thematically appropriate titles to read to their loved ones at home.
9) Google, Inc.
Google Federal supports United Through Reading in building secure, individual Google sites for service members who wish to participate in our program with web-based delivery. After piloting, processes will be established for wider dissemination in the field. Of course, accommodations will continue to be made for deployed locations without internet connectivity. We’re thankful we can adapt our program with ever advancing technology with the help of such a valuable partner. In addition to Google’s technology support we are also fortunate to have Mike Bradshaw, Director, Cloud Platform, East Region for Google, Inc., on our Board of Trustees and as the Chair of our Technology Committee. And finally, our transition to the cloud is being expertly led by skills based volunteer Google Inc’s Mahshad Haeri.
10) Insperity
Working with Insperity allows United Through Reading’s staff to have access to great benefits. They provide an array of human resources and business solutions designed to help improve business performance. The company delivers administrative relief, better benefits, reduced liabilities and a systematic way to improve productivity as well as payroll services, performance management, organizational planning, and financial and insurance services. We sing Insperity’s praises any chance we are given, because we love our team at Insperity and because they run our HR services efficiently so that our CEO and staff can focus on our mission, serving our military families.
11) Jacob Tyler Brand Communications Agency
Our wonderful friends at Jacob Tyler have assisted United Through Reading in successfully telling our brand story to communicate the impact we have in the lives of military families. They have armed us with a beautiful logo and branded collaterals that will move us into our next fruitful 25 years of reaching military families. In addition to the great creative work and financial contribution Jacob Tyler has supported United Through Reading with, we’re also lucky enough to have Charlie Van Vetchen, Jacob Tyler’s President, sit on our Board of Trustees, leading the way for our Marketing Communication Committee. And, we love Charlie’s talented creative team just as much as we love him.
12) Jumpstart
Each year, in the fall, we get to team up with Jumpstart, a national early education organization, to encourage our troops and their families to join in and help set the record for the largest shared reading experience, READ FOR THE RECORD. For us, working with Jumpstart is a natural fit. They are working passionately toward the day every child in America enters kindergarten prepared to succeed. As advocates for the read aloud experience, which prepares children to learn, our partnership is seamless.
13) Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC)
United Through Reading and MCEC are like-minded in our efforts to use literature in a way that fosters skills for resilience and strong parent-child connections. In fact, MCEC’s Tell Me a Story events offer an opportunity for families to bond around a carefully selected children’s book and related activities.
14) National Association of Education
United Through Reading joins the NAE’s Read Across America Day to ensure that the military families we serve may participate in their annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss.
15) Navy Federal Credit Union
Navy Federal Credit Union has launched United Through Reading recording sites at two of the credit union’s branches. Those branches will supply books and a private area for service members to video record a reading and a personal message. The book and DVD will then be given to the service member to send home to loved ones. Navy Federal and UTR have been working together since 2001. The expansion of the partnership to include recording sites marks the first time that a sponsor has hosted UTR’s program within their business locations, and we are we are thanking our lucky stars for Navy Federal’s willingness to enable this expansion.
16) Navy League
Since 1902, the Navy League of the United States has grown to become a worldwide organization with nearly 43,000 members in more than 245 councils. A primary objective of the League is to provide support for active duty sea services personnel and their families, which aligns directly with their longtime support of our program, for which we are so thankful.
17) National Military Family Association
The mission of the National Military Family Association is to fight for benefits and programs that strengthen and protect uniformed services families and reflect the nation’s respect for their service. The Association has been a key partner in bringing the issues of military families to the forefront, sponsoring research on issues affecting military families, and connecting families with quality resources like the United Through Reading program that can help them weather the challenges of deployment and military life. We’re grateful for the ways they lift us up and ensure that military families are aware of the impact of participating in United Through Reading.
18) ProCore Resource Group
ProCore Resource Group is a consulting firm that offers full service consulting services by leveraging their proprietary change analysis methodology to architect cloud-computing solutions tailored for their clients needs. For United Through Reading, this has translated into a comprehensive approach to program management using ten pro-bono Salesforce accounts and the volunteer expertise of ProCore’s team to assist us in serving our constituents.
19) San Diego Padres
This season, the San Diego Padres have opened the gates of Petco Park to families and friends to celebrate the holidays with a Holiday Wonderland; the team selected United Through Reading to benefit from the event with a portion of ticket sales purchased with a promotion code going to our program. To learn more about the Holiday Wonderland and how to buy tickets read our blog.
20) Sesame Street Workshop
Sesame Street Workshop provides innovative, curriculum-based programming that uses multiple media to address children’s critical developmental needs. Sesame’s Talk, Listen, Connect initiative offers bilingual materials and resources to support military families coping with difficult transitions in their lives, including deployment, homecomings, changes, divorce, and the death of a parent. The Workshop offers United Through Reading as one of the resources they arm military families with as they cope with the challenges of military life.
21) Target
Target has been with United Through Reading every step of the way, contributing vital funding for new initiatives and program growth, and becoming an active partner in our pursuit of technology solutions that will help ensure we can serve service members wherever they are in the world. Target has contributed nearly $2 million and immeasurable time, talent and resources since our partnership began in 2005. We are so grateful for their unwavering support.
22) Unisys Federal Business
Alongside Google Federal, Unisys Federal Business is helping UTR move into new technology space by offering secure, individual sites for service members who wish to participate with web-based delivery. Unisys’ Group VP, Defense and Intelligence Agencies also has a seat on our Board of Trustees and does a wonderful job of furthering our mission in service to military families. For our technology partners, we are so very thankful.
23) United Healthcare Military & Veterans
UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans began support of United Through Reading in 2014 with a generous sponsorship of the inaugural Tribute to Military Families in Washington DC. We know that UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans has a keen understanding of the needs of service members, veterans and their families, so we are honored by their investment in our program and their partnership in support of military families.
A service member recording a UTR video for his loved ones at a USO host-site.
24) USO
Our partnership with the USO dates back to 2006, when we joined forces with the USO to make United Through Reading available at select centers worldwide. To date, over 300,000 service members have participated our program at more than 60 USO host-sites including airport locations, military installations and centers overseas. If you talk to our beneficiary families, many of them caught wind of our program or first participated through the USO. To our friends at the USO, thanks for continually waving the UTR flag.
25) ZERO TO THREE
We are fortunate to collaborate with ZERO TO THREE on opportunities to share information with the public about the application of the United Through Reading program for military families with very young children through both webinars and broadcast news. We’re so thankful for the ways in which they help us spread the word about our program and reach additional military families with young ones.
In addition to these wonderful friends and supporters there are several others that significantly contribute to the mission of United Through Reading. To all of you who help us touch the lives of military families, each and every one of you, we are so grateful.
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