Blue Star Families, a group to which Connie Milstein is very dedicated and serves as a member of the Board of Directors, was recognized as a “Champion of Change” at an even hosted by the White House Office of Public Engagement last Thursday. The administration recognized Blue Star Families based on the organization’s work in the area of suicide prevention. Earlier this summer, Blue Star Families partnered with The Creative Coalition to produce a series of public service announcements aimed at military families and veterans as a response to an opinion piece that appeared in the LA Times titled, “Where is the ‘It Gets Better’ suicide awareness campaign for our military?”, written by Blue Star Families member Alison Buckholtz. The PSAs have aired on network and cable television stations, movie theater screens, radio station and even taxis.

“We are honored to receive this recognition from the White House,” said Mark Smith, executive director of Blue Star Families, Inc., in a statement released by the organization. “The suicide rate among our soldiers and their families is at a record high. We hope this public service campaign will help military families realize they have somewhere to turn for confidential help.”

Champion of Change is part of the Winning the Future initiative introduced by President Obama as a way to recognize ordinary Americans who are contributing enormous efforts to change the world. Each week, the White House Office of Public Engagement selects a different Champion of Change recipient; an individual or group may be selected for their community efforts or helping the U.S. rise to meet the challenges facing our country in the 21st century.

Connie Milstein and the other members of the Blue Star Families Board of Directors recently added several new members and appointed Blue Star Families founder and chairman, Kathy Roth-Douquet, as Chief Executive Officer.

Kathy has written several books on the subject of advocacy on behalf of military families, including AWOL, The Unexcused Absence of America’s Upper Classes from Military Service and How It Hurts the Country and How Free People Move Mountains. She also dedicates her time as a spokesperson and advocate for Blue Star Families and has served as a former Clinton White House and Pentagon appointee.

Laura Dempsey, former Blue Star Families Vice Chairman and Secretary, replaced Kathy as the foundation’s Chairman of the Board. A civil rights attorney, Laura has been writing about military family issues since 2005 and has served as a consultant on military family issues.

The board also voted Kate Howard and Les Brownlee as new board directors. Kate will also serve Blue Star Farms as secretary following Laura’s promotion. Most recently, Kate has served as Senior Adviser to the Afghan Ministry of Finance in Kabul and brings experience in institutional capacity development, donor coordination, strategic planning and needs assessments and evaluations to her new role at to Blue Star Families. Les Brownlee served as the 27^th Under Secretary of the Army and Acting Secretary of the Army between 2003 and 2004. His 18-month reign made him the longest-serving Acting Secretary in the Army’s history.

Hear and see some of the results from the Blue Star Families’ 2010 Military Family Lifestyle Survey results.  Blue Star Families, where Connie Milstein is on the Board, spent extensive time and money collecting these survey results so that they can best serve military families.

In recent news, Lifetime Television is showing its support for military families.  Blue Star Families, where Connie Milstein is on the Board of Directors, explains that Lifetime Television is donating $1 to Blue Star Families for every time a certain link is posted to Facebook or Twitter.  With the season premiere of Army Wives on Sunday, March 6^th, they are showing their much appreciated support for Blue Star Families.

A mere three years ago, Blue Star Families was set up by a group of dedicated military spouses who sought to “raise awareness of the challenges of military family life with their civilian communities and leaders.”  Today, this is an important organization that has developed a whole support system for those who have family serving in the military.  The organization also seeks to involve the larger community, which was why the recent activity by the group of grandmothers baking special treats for those marines deployed in Afghanistan was so typical of their work.
BSF Southern California chapter director Reyna Reyna appealed to her community for help and had an incredible response from these grandmothers.  Indeed, Reyna commented that it’s a problem how many civilians want to get involved in helping their military brethren, but don’t know what to do. This was a perfect opportunity.  “Oh this is great, it’s my first time helping out,” said Dixie Branscome from the Lake Elsinore Elks Ladies Auxiliary. “I made 60 dozen cookies myself.”  Reyna was shocked and delighted that the women wanted to bake the cookies from scratch, donating real time to the cause.  “Military veteran Leo Vasquez, who served in the armed forces from 1977 to 1990, said he remembered how important care packages were to him. ‘I am here to give my support to those still serving,’ Vasquez said. ‘These packages meant a lot to me, they kept our morale up.’”
Connie Milstein is on the Board of Directors at BSF.

Blue Star Families is an organization started by and dedicated to supporting the families of men and women who serve in the United States Armed Forces.  Since its founding in 2008, BSF has been active in raising awareness among the general population about the kinds of sacrifices military families make for their loved ones and for their country, while at the same time providing special activities, information and support to help those families get through those more challenging moments.

As a longtime supporter of military families, Connie Milstein became a member of the board of directors of BSF and participates in many activities that bring pride and joy to the families of military personnel.  One such event, which is pictured here, was a dinner reception honoring military families at the elegant Georgetown home of Connie Milstein, in March, 2010.

Kathy Roth-Douquet is chairman of the Board of Blue Star Families as well as being its founder and President.  She is an advocate for military families as well as a noted author, having enjoyed much success with her book AWOL, The Unexcused Absence of America’s Upper Classes from Military Service and How It Hurts the Country (with Frank Schaeffer, HarperCollins) which Sen. John McCain said was “a great service” to America.  In Leatherneck magazine, she was termed a “spokesperson for military families.”  On the board with Roth-Douquet as Director of Washington DC BSF, is Connie Milstein.

Last February Connie Milstein helped make a Blue Star Family event all the more sweet by donating brownies from Connie’s Bakery, another of Mrs. Milstein’s philanthropic endeavors. On February 18, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm BSF organized a “Story Book Fantasy Night” at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. Organized by Mr. Gary Gutshall of BSF, about 100 people were in attendance. Included were about 50 children, 50 parents and another 25 or so in support of the event or to provide information about the various organizations which could be of help to the families at Quantico Marine Corps Base.

The Marketing Manager for MCCS (Marine Corps Community Service), Ms. Cindy Busy, opened the evening with a short description of the planned activities for the night and also acknowledged those that donated to the event,  Connie’s Bakery and  Neiman Marcus, who donated brownies and books, respectively.

The evening consisted of a buffet style dinner and then a book reading rotation where several groups of children listened to a fairy tale story told to them by a volunteer dressed in the costume of their own favorite fairy tale character. After 20 minutes each group rotated to the next “station” to hear another story. Each child received a coupon to be redeemed for a book from MCCS or from those books donated by Neiman Marcus. As they left for the evening each family received a brown container with brownies from Connie’s Bakery.

Suzanne Milstead of BSF explained to the participants that the donations from Connie’s Bakery and Neiman Marcus were their way of saying “thank you” for everything the soldiers and their families have sacrificed for the benefit of everyone in America.

Blue Star Families is an amazing organization which gives others an opportunity to say “Thank you” to those dedicated, self-sacrificing individuals who give everything to make sure the United States and its people continue to remain safe and free.

Organized by military families in order to support those families, BSF is a member-driven group with representatives in over 70 different military bases all over the world. This huge network is supported by an active, core leadership, the National Leadership Team, composed of family members and the spouses of the active duty individuals, including national guardsmen, reservists and veterans serving in all the various military branches all over the United States.

Due to the interest and concern Connie Milstein has shown for military families through the years makes her support of Blue Star Families not surprising. Recently Mrs. Milstein strengthened her dedication to the cause of BSF and became a member of the board and the BSF Director in Washington, D.C. BSF is an organization uniquely suited to Connie Milstein’s many interests, especially her concern for the humanitarian side of international affairs and military actions.