photo credit: Lester Balajadia // Shutterstock

Sesame Street has always been known for keeping it real with their viewers, and they don’t plan to change that. The producers of the popular children’s show think now is the perfect time to teach their younger viewers about homelessness, as they introduce the show’s first homeless muppet.

About 7 years ago on Sesame Street, Lily, a 7-year-old pink muppet, was introduced to the viewers to help them understand hunger and food insecurities. Lily now must learn how to cope with her family losing their home and she is forced to stay with friends on Sesame Street.

Their goal is to help convey homelessness from the perspective of a child. The show will follow Lily as she learns the importance of talking abut her feelings through the process and discussing the concept of what “home” really means. Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind the beloved show, is launching the character’s struggle as a means of offering “help and hope to the growing number of young children across the United States who are experiencing homelessness,” the organization said in a press release.

This storyline will not yet air on television, but will have online videos and materials.

“We know children experiencing homelessness are often caught up in a devastating cycle of trauma,” said Sherrie Westin, president of Global Impact and Philanthropy at Sesame Workshop. “We want to help disrupt that cycle by comforting children, empowering them, and giving them hope for the future. We want them to know that they are not alone, and home is more than a house or an apartment – home is wherever the love lives.”

The National Center on Family Homelessness reports that 2.5 million children (about one in every 30 children) are homeless in the United States.

Written by Clarke Jones

Source: The Shaderoom