A Library of Bedtime Stories

September 9, 2020

Before the pandemic hit, Tech Sergeant Vince Fontana was only home for, at most, 2 weeks at the time. The Air Force loadmaster is regularly away on temporary duty travel (TDY) as he loads and unloads Air Force planes around the world. His wife Jennifer and 6-year old son Henry turned to the United Through Reading app to keep them all connected.

“Even when he comes and goes, Henry prefers my husband put him to bed, the recordings help him keep routine, he is so much calmer. He’s able to go to sleep so much easier because that normalcy is here,” she said. “This is something that we really benefit from, it’s not just about deployment, it’s about TDYs that are constant. Sometimes they are 1 week, sometimes 6 months.”

The family uses the UTR app and loves the convenience of making recordings on their own schedule in the comfort of their home. Jennifer loves that everything is conveniently and securely stored in the cloud so it doesn’t take up precious space on her phone or iPad.

For Henry, the books are one of the best parts of the app, as he loves reading new books. He helps select the next book to order from our app order form and also selects favorites from their bookshelf for dad, mom, and even his grandma to read.

For Jennifer, it’s a great way to maintain routine now that her husband has begun traveling again for work. The family has made over 20 recordings in July during the Record High Reading Challenge while they settled into their new duty station and as Vince prepared to take his first trip since March.

“This is the first time he’s been okay with my husband leaving in a really long time, I credit that to the fact that we have the recordings and we can put them on before bedtime,” Jennifer said.

The family plans to continue making more videos for Henry to enjoy while cuddled up in bed, just as if his Daddy was there.

How has your family used United Through Reading? Share your experience today.