Catching Up with Trevor & The Crew

Trevor and The Crew have been busy traveling all over the U.S. for our With You All the Way! USO Tour, and we've seen some great military kids! So far this year, we have visited thirty elementary schools and youth centers, enjoying the opportunity to speak with over 12,500 kids. Coming up next quarter we will visit schools in Georgia, Virginia, Washington D.C, and Washington State. 

Here is what people are saying! 

"My experience with Trevor Romain over the past three days would qualify as the first time that I feel the word profound, in my professional experience.  The event at our school was a powerful experience that allowed the students to hear, see and feel the experiences that Trevor shared. The students returned to school today still speaking of a story or experience they heard Trevor share yesterday.  One child, whose single father is deployed and mother is deceased, went home and told his grandfather he missed his dad.  The grandfather took a picture of Dad and alongside the picture wrote the words 'My Hero, My Dad' for the child to use as a journal cover so he could be close to his father.  This is just one experience immediately following Trevor’s visit. Thank you to the USO for providing this needed resource for our school that over the years has ranged from 65 to 80% military dependents." Principal, North Carolina

"As a parent of a well adjusted 24 year old son you would never think that this one little news story would have so much of a profound effect on me but last night's story on WLOX had me in tears and my really making my heart ache in a way that I thought I would never feel again. You see when my son was in the seventh grade he started having problems in school and I noticed that he was always sad. One day there was an altercation at school and I was called in to talk with the staff. Alex was being bullied. Part of the thing that hit me the hardest was that these kids.... were bullying him about his dad serving in the military! To keep the long gory details to a minimum, they were taunting him and telling him that his dad was going to die a bloody death during his (at the time) upcoming deployment to Iraq. This little boy kept all this buried, having nightmares, being bullied everyday to protect his mom. I wish there had been a resource like this back then but now there are more." Mother, Mississippi

"Thank you, what a wonderful resource! The students absolutely LOVED the assembly and they really HEARD the message! I was so happy to hear some of the things they shared with Mr. Romain.  Thank you so much from our Faculty and Staff for delivering such an important message and for making our kids feel important!!! What a gift!" Counselor, Texas

The With You All the Way! USO Tour is an engaging presentation led by Co-Founder, Trevor Romain. The presentation, emphasizes the importance of caring for one another and developing valuable strategies for dealing with the unique challenges of military life. To learn more about the tour watch the trailer video today!

Trevor's Journal: The Patch

In Trevor's Words: USO With You All the Way Tour In Germany

We recently completed our spring portion of the  With You All the Way tour. We spoke to about 15000 kids, all of them overseas. This portion of the tour had somewhat of a bittersweet ending. The good news is that we get to rest a little bit over the summer. The bad news is that we are going to miss being around this brave group of kids for a while. Plus, a number of bases we visited are closing or consolidating which means big changes for the military and many of the families.

We were in three cities in central Germany, Weisbaden, Heidelberg, and Stuttgart. The Heidelberg area is home to two elementary schools, Manheim Elementary school and Patrick Henry Elementary school. Manheim Elementary is closing its doors this year. Due to the army drawdown and plans for realignment in Europe, schools and bases are closing down. It has been open since 1946. In the early nineties it had about 2000 students. Today, there are only about 200, and those kids will be moving somewhere else next year. In fact, many are having to move now, back to the states and many know they are moving but don’t know where they are going. We spoke to one little girl, who towards the end of the presentation, finally had the courage to say something. Her dad was currently deployed, and she  andher mom were having to move to Colorado in the next couple of days. She was petrified, and rightfully so. I can’t imagine have my family be uprooted to a somewhere far away while I was deployed to Afghanistan and not able to offer any help. However, because the little girl had the courage to speak up, we were able to offer some assistance and expedite shipping of her USO family empowerment pack so she could have it for her travels.

Patrick Henry Elementary school is also going to close soon. These families are really in a state of flux because they know they are going to have to move but don’t know when and don’t know where. Living in this state of uncertainty is causing much stress on a lot of families. We had two great presentations at Patrick Henry. The kids were so engaged and had plenty to say. One thing that stood out in particular for me though, was a shy little girl in the back who had the courage to raise her hand.  We ask the kids what they learned during the video portion of our presentation. So she felt the need to say something. I asked, what she learned and very quietly but confidently said, “You don’t have to be in a special group to be special. “ Wow, I hope everyone can learn from that."

We spent our last couple of days in Stuttgart. We had no idea how big Stuttgart was. There is about 5 million people in the city and surrounding area. Stuttgart is a beautiful city. It is where old meets new. Buildings that are 700 years old living happily with very modern buildings. We went to a school called Patch Elementary, on the Patch military base, which is a large army base. We had some really good presentations again. But we want to leave you with one email we received from a mom. It really makes us feel good about what we are doing and how important the work the USO is doing for military families.

Dear Mr. Romain,
Thank you for coming to Patch Elementary School in Stuttgart.  My son did not stop talking about your visit all the way home in the car.  Then something happened when we got to the house.  You see my husband was hurt and he lost part of his leg and my son seems ashamed and angry about what happened. He always wanted to take his anger out by himself and stay locked in his room alone and did not want to deal with his dad.  And it was so hard for my husband.  He said that kind of pain was worse than his injury. Today when he came home my son wrote a letter to his dad and said he loved him and wanted to help him get better. I’m not sure what you said to him but thank you and Mr. Woody and the USO for your presentation and for helping our kids on the bases.  You just don’t know how much it means to us.I cannot thank you enough for your help.

 - Trevor Romain
Award-Winning Children's Author
Co-Founder, The Comfort Crew for Military Kids

Trevor Romain Visits Veneto Italy

By: Glenn Gibbs, USO Vicenza

A civilian on the bus to Aviano Elementary school asked, “Who is Trevor Romain and what do you do?”

Romain replied: “That’s a good question, and I don’t really know.”  

As the Center Manager for the USO I started thinking of my answer to that question. I had never seen the With You All the Way tour and was anxious to witness it.

The 75 min event presentation was very inspirational for the 1000 students of both Aviano and Vicenza Elementary Schools. For many of the teachers and school staff, amazed at the participation and emotions that the tour drew from the younger audience. 

I watched this adult man slip into his tight fitting amour of adolescents and begin to communicate with the youngsters on their level.  He spoke of bonding and bullies, deploying and depression and soulfully caring.  Trevor Romain is truly an altruistic entrepreneur of human happiness. He is mastering the ability to unlock seasoned doors and allow the little ones inside to find the strength to communicate. He hears, sees, feels and empathizes with their hurt, hate, anger and loneliness. He is an entertainer, friend and fellow human being attempting to assist the students through difficult periods in their lives. The members of his tour add a depth to understanding and ability to interact with each member of the audience as needed. Each of them is a walking, talking illustration of genuine caring. 

He and his crew departed Italy for home in the USA, but a part of the With You All the Way tour remains in each student they touched.

With You All the Way! at Bechtel Elementary in Japan

Woody Englander is a member of The Comfort Crew who tours with Trevor on the With You All the Way! Tour. Here are his thoughts about a recent visit to Bechtel Elementary School in Okinawa, Japan.

I believe we were on our 36^th presentation, our final presentation from our USO tour in Japan.

We spoke at every elementary school in the DODEA system in the pacific region. So it seemed fitting to have one of our most memorable moments happen in the last presentation.

Trevor had warmed the kids up with some stories and jokes. We played our movie montage, which the kids howl with laughter yet are able to reflect and relate to the characters, as they face the same issues as these kids do.

 

Now it was Stephanie’s turn to speak to the kids about her experience as a military child. She was discussing the fact that sometimes we bully other people when we are hurting inside. Sometimes we take out our frustration on others instead of taking care of our own feelings. She answered a couple of questions from kids before Paolo raised his hand. Paolo Francisco, a fifth grader at Bechtel Elementary School, stood up and said, “I have something to say.”  At that moment he walked up and nicely took the microphone from Stephanie. We have spoken to about 60,000 kids on this tour and this has never happened. Stephanie, was shocked, but smiled and stood next to Paolo. All of us were wondering what in the world was about to happen.

Paolo began to speak about a powerball.  We were all thinking, “Oh no!”   But then Paolo began explaining the powerball. He explained that he pretends that he gets hit by a magic powerball. The powerball gives him special powers to not let what a bully says bother him. Not only does the powerball give you power to fend off hurtful words of a bully, but the powerball  gives you the power to be nice to bullies and nice to other people.  Paolo went on for a while and then went back and sat in his spot on the floor.  We gave him a nice round of applause and Stephanie told him how proud she was of him.

My words aren’t quite doing justice to the event that took place. You had to be in the room to have seen Paolo’s face and experienced his courage to really appreciate what happened. Only a child could have given such a heartfelt and wonderful visual about treating people kindly and having the power to take care of yourself. In his words, he summarized what the With You All the Way tour is all about.

The Comfort Crew, The Trevor Romain Company and the USO, are all proud to have met Paolo Francisco and hope to share his message with military kids all around the world as we continue our tour. Thanks Paolo.

What Trevor Hears

Here is a great video of kids talking to Trevor about some of the challenges they face as military children.

From the USO's blog last Friday:

Every now and then during our travels and presentations you come across a child that has a story that is very touching and inspirational. On this particular day, we were lucky enough to do the presentation at a theater in base housing in Sasebo. This one little girl comes skipping down the aisle holding a Cuzzie bear. We see this from time to time to time. It is very cool to see that because we know that she must have received one of our deployment kits. These kits are called the With You All the Way deployment kits. The USO gives these out to help kids with all phases of deployment. The Cuzzie bear is an integral part of the kit along with an animated movie and journal.

Trevor shows off a Cuzzie bear

Her teacher brought her over, carrying her With You All the Way journal along with her Cuzzie. She sat with me for a minute or two showing us what she had written and drawn in her journal. She also showed off a picture of her dad in full uniform, which she had glued it into her journal. She was so proud.  Her dad is currently deployed, but she seemed to be doing really well.

After she went and took her seat her teacher came up to and visited for a little bit.  The teacher wanted us to know she had really been using the kit and practicing some of things recommended in the DVD and journal.  Then the teacher shared something that had me tearing up with pride, joy, and also sadness.

On the day that the little girl’s father deployed she went with her mother to the ship that her dad was leaving on. Before he got on the ship the little girl sang, ‘Anchors Away’ to her dad. And as she sang, the little girl’s dad cried. I know that he couldn’t have helped but feel an overwhelming sense of many emotions. But he must have been incredibly proud of his little girl.

Trevor visits with military children overseas

Just seeing this little girl’s face and picturing that moment made me choke up instantly. And as I watched the little girl during that presentation I couldn’t help but get emotional. It is so gratifying to know that the kit the USO provided that little girl had such a positive impact on her deployment experience. And the way that she held on to her Cuzzie was absolutely priceless.

This was a great way to wrap up the second leg of the tour of the pacific region. Makes for a much shorter plane ride. - Trevor Romain, USO Entertainer and Children’s Author & Illustrator

From AFNSaseboJapan's YouTube channel:

"Normally when the USO brings in a special visitor to Fleet Activities Sasebo, it's for the servicemembers and other adults on the base, but this time the guest was for the children to help them learn how to be better prepared for the deployments of their parents and other concerns that children have. MC2 John Wagner went to the DoDDS Schools at Fleet Activities Sasebo where the students had a special visit from Trevor Romain."

Watch this great video they posted!

Bullies in Korea

We are still in Korea and it is still freezing. Trevor was so wrapped up you couldn’t even see his eyes. He was walking into things. 

Bullies, Bullies,  Bullies

Today the theme seemed to stay on bullies.

How do you make the bully stop?

What do you do when the bully won't leave you alone on the bus?

What if no adult will listen?

What do you do if your parents want to talk to the bully’s parents?

Why am I being so mean to people?

We could have discussed bullying for 24 hours today to this group of kids. Many of them were really upset about being bullied and  didn’t know what to do. These students needed for us to know that bullying is prevalent. Just by them talking about you could tell that the mood lifted in the room and some tensions eased. Many of the kids came up to Stephanie and Trevor afterwards and shared that they were either bullies themselves or had some really serious problems with bullies. But they were all happy to have learned some pointers on dealing with difficult situations.

Bullying is so prevalent all across our country. It is not unique to military students. But many of the added pressures of growing up in the military can increase bullying behavior. Multiple deployments,  difficulties with reintegration , financial stresses, and high rates of divorce can really lead to aggressive behavior. It is so important that we recognize these situations and give these students the opportunity to be heard and give them tools to help them through some of these difficult times

Camp Humphries and Osan Air Base

It is another frigid day here in Korea. I overheard  a guy in the lobby of the Dragon Hill Lodge that is colder in Seoul thank it was in Fairbanks, Alaska. That is cold.  But we wrapped up and hit the road to Camp Humphries and Osan Air Base.

There were a couple of very touching stories that kids told Trevor.

The first involved a little third grade boy. During the With You All the Way song that we play at the end of the performance Trevor noticed a third grade boy crossing his fingers and putting them over his heart. Trevor called me over and to take a look and he did it again. The boy was boy was obviously feeling something as he continued to do this  and take some deep breaths  to keep himself calm. We were both wondering what he was thinking and feeling.

After the question and answer session Trevor went up to him to say hello and see what was going on. The boy began to tell Trevor what was going on. It turned out that boy was missing his best friend. His friends parents were going through a divorce and they moved away in a day. They never really got to say goodbye. But they made a pact that when they each got through with high school they would move to Texas and try to find each other.

As I write this I am having to step away and take a deep breath. That boys expression and worries really touched us. But as Trevor so warmly does he talked to the boy and they came up with a few ideas on how to keep his friend in his heart.  He and Trevor shook hands and he walked away knowing that someone was with him all the way. And that he had a new friend in Trevor.

Seoul Elementary

Seoul Elementary is a very big school. There are approximately 175 kids in each class so there were four presentations today. The kids were all fired up and ready for Trevor to come to the school.

The most touching thing that occurred today was the exchange between a second grader and Trevor. It was so neat.

The little boy came up to Trevor and proudly introduced himself. He had  little red sweatshirt on with his hoodie pulled so tightly around his face you could so only his eyes. But he was so confident when he saidthat he was bullied badly a year ago at an international school in Europe. But he said he had the greatest counselor that helped him a lot. We asked the boy what did counselor did. He said the counselor showed him the Bullies Are A Pain in the Brain dvd. The watched it together a few times and talked about all of the ideas and how he could use those ideas in his situation. This little boy was being bullied on the playground back at his old school. But with the help of his counselor and the Bullies Are A Pain in the Brain dvd he really figured out how to make the situation better.

We asked him how it was going here in Korea. He said things are good and he is still using the ideas from the dvd and the ideas from his counselor to handle any rough situation that might come up. He is so excited to know that he is going to be receiving his own copy of Bullies Are A Pain in the Brain dvd. Thank you USO.

Once again we realized that the simplest of tools and just being there to lend an ear to a child makes all the difference in the world.

Korea - Camp Casey

We arrived in Korea on Thursday night and the temperature was a balmy -2 degrees, Fahrenheit for goodness sake. We were in Guam the week before and it was about 100 degrees hotter. But after getting acclimated a little bit we are getting used to the cold. We heard it was cold, but is COLD.

We had an incredible first day. Tony Davis, country director of USO Korea, arranged to have a Blackhawk helicopter fly us down to Camp Casey. What a treat. I will tell you about the flight back in a little bit.

Camp Casey is mainly army infantrymen. They are the first line of defense against North Korea. So it was a real honor to be there. One other cool thing was getting to watch the Super Bowl at the USO there at Camp Casey.

We had two presentations there. The first presentation was to the second and third graders. We had a great time and the kids really enjoyed the show.  One little girl asked Stephanie, our traveling air force brat, if you are in the air force do get to fly a plane to school. It was as cute as it could be. 

But as it always happens, we get one comment that makes all the travel and everything we do so worthwhile.  A third grade girl, who was bundled from head to toe in a pink coat, asked an important question.Her eyes were so sad and she was so shy and quiet, but she found the courage to ask the question.. She asked Stephanie what are you supposed to do when you are getting bullied and don’t have any friends to talk to about it. Stephanie answered her very warmly supportively and we addressed the question again later to let her know that it is normal to feel alone sometimes but there is always support. This question seemed to be the theme of the day. So many military kids feel alone and isolated. That is why  it is so important to validate these feelings and give them the tools to make positive changes in their lives. That is exactly what the With You All the Way tour does.

The little girl in the pink came up to Trevor afterwards. Her eyes that were so sad were suddenly bright when she said, “A life was changed today.” Trevor asked her what she meant. She told Trevor his own personal story about being bullied in the second grade and the support she now has made her feel so much better. Trevor had a picture torn up by another kid in school and she had the exact thing happen to her. Just knowing that somebody else had been through the same thing, made her realize that people are with her all the way and she would be okay. A big smile came over Trevor’s face and they had a hug and she went off to be with her class.

The ride back on the Blackhawk topped off a great day. The pilots showed off a little bit for us and that was extremely exciting and thrilling. Those helicopter pilots are very cool, so hats off to them.

- The Comfort Crew