Military Family Appreciation Day pays tribute to the silent sacrifices of those behind the uniform

TORONTO, Sept. 17, 2019 /CNW/ - For the first time in Canada's history, the unknown and often forgotten daily sacrifices of Canadian military families are going to be officially recognized on September 20, 2019. Canada's inaugural Military Family Appreciation Day (MFAD) will provide an opportunity for the public to honour and thank the incredibly important families who keep life on the home front together as the Canadian Armed Forces pursue their professional and often dangerous missions both domestically and abroad. There are approximately 60,000 Canadian military families and roughly 80,000 children with at least one parent currently serving in the CAF.

Military families face unique military-lifestyle challenges such as relocations, deployments, temporary duties, finding new schools for their children and an ever-changing schedule, said Sarah Rozema-Seaton, a working mom with three children whose husband has been deployed on several overseas tours, the first of which was to Afghanistan in 2005. "Despite almost constant uncertainty, military families are highly resilient, supporting family on both the front line and the home front," said Rozema-Seaton. "Recognition of the contributions and sacrifices families make towards supporting our soldiers through MFAD is a true honour that touches our hearts, as it has never been done before" she added. 

"Our military personnel are able to focus on their tasks at hand because of the support their families and loved ones give them. It is therefore incumbent upon us as Canadians to recognize the formidable challenges military families undertake to do this, and for the first time, show our gratitude to them," said Lieutenant-General (Retd) Alain Parent, Former Acting Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. Parent is also an honorary council member of the Together We Stand Foundation (TWS), a non-profit that distributes Family Gift Boxes to military families with a loved one deployed overseas during the December holiday season. Other members of TWS's honorary council include Col. Chris Hadfield, Wayne Gretzky, Jim Cuddy, Haley Wickenheiser and Paul Gross, among other notable media and sports personalities. Former Prime Ministers Martin and Harper are honorary TWS patrons.

TWS worked with Gen. Andrew Leslie (Retd) (LPC), Hon. Ed Fast (CPC) and Murray Rankin (NDP) to gain all-party support for a unanimous consent motion moved in the House of Commons on June 19, 2019. The motion designated the third Friday of each September as Military Family Appreciation Day. "Canada as a whole has not yet thanked these patriotic military families who suffer constant stress and worry as their loved ones keep our country safe – now is the time to do so," said TWS President and Co-Founder, Rick Ekstein.

How to get involved

• Write to military families by visiting: www.twsfoundation.ca
• Post thank you notes to all social media platforms with the hashtag #MFAD or #MFADThankYou
• Visit twsfoundation.ca and contribute to the family gift box by hitting the "donate" button

It is the goal of the TWS Honorary Council and Patrons to have every Canadian acknowledge and thank military families for their service.

SOURCE Together We Stand Foundation

For media and other inquiries please contact: Laura Grosman, Vice-President, Together We Stand Foundation, 647-454-4735, [email protected]