Milk Mustache Celebrities

The Clifford Family

Introducing the Clifford Family of Belle Harbor, NY, who were crowned Scholastic Parent & Child's 2010 "Family of the Year." The National Milk Mustache "got milk?"® Campaign joined forces with Elisabeth and Tim Hasselbeck and Scholastic's Parent & Child Magazine to fine the "Family of the Year" -a nationwide search to find strong families who make a difference in their homes, schools, and communities. With nearly 90,000 entries received, the first-prize winners-the Clifford Family-was featured in the June /July 2010 issue of Scholastic Parent & Child alongside the Hasselbecks' Milk Mustache ad.

The Cliffords' inspiring efforts to give back to their community made them a perfect choice to be named the 2010 "Family of the Year." Dad Michael is a 14-year veteran of the NYC fire department, and mom Cynthia is an early childhood educator who works with underprivileged autistic children. Outside of their jobs, the couple is commited to making a difference with their two children. The Cliffords are involved in their tight-knit beach community, working on local beach clean up, painting over graffiti and planning local events to raise awareness about Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). The youngest Cliffords-Aidan, 7 and Nina, 6-are philanthropists in their own right, having launched a holiday gift drive for special needs children during the 2009 season.

Most recently, the Cliffords worked with their community and the Wounded Warriors Project-a nonprofit that seeks to raise awareness of the needs of wounded veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The family and dozens of their neighbors opened their homes to the vets, most of whom are amputees, for a weekend of waterskiing, scuba diving, and kayaking with the assistance of disabled-sports experts.

The Hasselbecks wrote the foreword to a custom storybook inspired by the Cliffords entitled The Giverbacker Parade, which communicates the importance of family and community service and features stories from real families making a difference, selected from the thousands of contest entries received as part of the "Family of the Year" initiative. Download your copy here.