Bringing Story Time Home
United Through Reading helps military families stay connected.
Jeff Chase, a lieutenant colonel with the Army, remembers the first time he was able to read to his children while deployed overseas. That was in 2009, after he heard about United Through Reading and signed up to record a video.
When the day came, he headed for the USO tent, picked out two books and sat in front of a camera to read to Campbell and Caitlin back home in the States.
“He went from military mode to Daddy mode, reading Olivia and Corduroy, and then it was back to the war,” says his wife, Lauren. “Later, he said it was one of the best memories he had.”
Campbell, now 12, remembers how the experience helped ease her mind. “Just to see my dad—to hear his voice and see him reading a story that we fell in love with— was perfect,” she says. “It made me feel like he was almost here.”
Fast-forward to 2018. Jeff was deployed again, and the family knew the two youngest kids would be getting “Daddy books” of their own. The day the envelope came felt like Christmas morning. McKenna, 6, and Connor, now 4, unwrapped their books, and then they got to watch Jeff read.
United Through Reading began in 1989 after a Navy flight surgeon returned home to a daughter who didn’t recognize him. His wife, a reading specialist, launched the program; today it serves every branch of the military.
“We are 100 percent funded by individuals, corporations and foundations; by lemonade stands, book clubs and classrooms,” says United Through Reading CEO Sally Ann Zoll. “It’s life-changing.”
Life-changing, too, for those far from home. “You do multiple deployments,” says Jeff, speaking while on leave. “As a parent, you look for anything that can close that distance. This is one way.”
The Chases came from Texas but are now based in northern Virginia. Someday, they say, they’ll call Texas home again.
Until then, they bring a bit of the country with them wherever they go. “We moved here to base housing around Mother’s Day, and one of the first things we did was put in a garden,” Lauren says. “We canned our first spaghetti sauce out of a little base garden plot. Those are our roots.”
And the family will cherish each opportunity to share story time with Dad until he finally comes home to stay.
Editor’s Note: The Reader’s Digest Foundation—a charitable arm of Country Woman magazine’s parent company—is a proud sponsor of United Through Reading.