MARCH 11, 2002, New York-
Shortly after the attacks of 9/11, the legendary songwriter/music producer Nile Rodgers gathered together 200 actors, musicians, sports figures and other personalities in New York and Los Angeles to re-record his smash-hit We Are Family (co-written by his late partner Bernard Edwards) with the hope of bringing a sense of healing and unity to a world that had been so severely changed just days earlier. From those remarkable days of togetherness came a powerful re-make of the single, a poignant black & white documentary style music video, and a documentary entitled "The Making and Meaning of We Are Family" by Globalvision's Emmy award-winning Danny Schechter and an idea to bring a similar message to children; that message of course being, FAMILY.

"Barney, meet Bear-Bear, meet Barney."

Over the course of the last four months, bears, dinosaurs, frogs, birds, dogs, aardvarks, rats, lions, one pig and personalities from the world of children's television came together to record an unprecedented children's version of We Are Family. Christopher Cerf, children's TV/music producer and co-creator of PBS's "Between the Lions," supervised characters from award-winning shows like Arthur, Barney, Bear in the Big Blue House, Between the Lions, Blue's Clues, Bob the Builder, The Book of Pooh, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Dora the Explorer, Dragon Tales, Jimmy Neutron, Little Bill, The Muppet Show, Oswald, Out of the Box, Rolie Polie Olie, Rugrats, Sagwa The Chinese Siamese Cat, Sesame Street, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Stanley, Zoom and many others, including special appearances by Diana Ross & Whoopi Goldberg, to demonstrate to children the importance of togetherness embodied by the word FAMILY.

This historic music video proves that even on an interspecies level, the message of family and togetherness cannot falter in times of despair. In celebration of the meaning of Family, this 3-minute music video will air as follows on Monday, March 11, 2002: Disney Channel (7:57am ET & PST), Nickelodeon (7:57am ET & 10:57am ET) and throughout the day on PBS stations across the country.

The We Are Family Project has also teamed up with AOL to host a live, on-line chat on March 11th at 7:00pm (EST) featuring Bear, from Jim Henson's Bear in the Big Blue House as seen on Disney Channel, Theo, from PBS's Between the Lions and the incomparable Kermit the Frog to celebrate the video.

Nile Rodgers said, "It was extraordinary to have these wonderful characters meeting each other for the very first time--and they're singing my song! Wow!"

Chris Cerf added, "This is an unprecedented event-for the first time all the characters from all the important kid's shows came together to appear in the same video. The producers and performers from each show embraced the spirit and message of this project. They were thrilled to allow their characters to appear with other characters from different shows simply because they understood the importance and meaning behind We Are Family."

The We Are Family Project, a celebration of our common humanity, is in partnership with I Am Your Child Foundation, a non-profit organization. Net proceeds from WAF projects will go to those affected by the events of September 11th and the IAYC for the following purposes relating to children: diversity and tolerance education; children exposed to violence; children's mental health and parenting supports.

The team behind this project includes the Founders, Nile Rodgers and Tom Silverman, Director, Nancy Hunt, as well as a Board of Advisors, that includes, Christopher Cerf, Judith E. Glaser, Mitchell Kriegman, Gina B. Legnani, Danny Schechter, Steven Van Zandt and Montel Williams.

A resolution is currently in front of US Congress to pass March 11th as National We Are Family Day.

www.wearefamilyfoundation.org for more information. Press contact: GBL Communications, inc. 212.289.7238