Little Troopers Treasures
Connecting families and creating long-lasting memories
Categories
Apps, Charity
Awards
The Drum Social Purpose Awards 2018: Best Use of Technology (Highly Commended)
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Little Troopers is a registered charity supporting children with parent(s) serving in the British Armed Forces.

Little Troopers provide the fundamental resources and support to ease separation periods, aiming to keep parents and children connected even when miles apart. They are constantly looking for new ways to bring military families closer together, despite the physical distance that may be between them. They felt that an app could help to achieve their goal.
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BRIDGING THE GAP.
Little Troopers had a vision and developed a concept to bring to life: promoting reading bedtime stories, but with the use of technology to bring comfort and togetherness when it was needed most. The charity approached Cantarus to make their concept a reality, and we were so excited to contribute to such a life-changing, uplifting project.
The Little Troopers Treasures app allows military parents deployed abroad to read bedtime stories to their children across countries, continents, and time-zones. It records the parent’s face, voice, and even the speed of the pages that are turned as they read from a collection of popular children’s books supplied by Harper Collins. Each recording can be watched an unlimited number of times, establishing a connection between families that goes beyond borders.

The app also allows parents to record videos up to two minutes in length that are saved onto a secure server hosted by Cantarus, so the next time a family member logs in, they are alerted to a new video available to watch. Parents have the option to schedule when they want their video messages to appear, ensuring that they will never miss a child’s birthday - even if they are unable to record a message on the day.

The platform was created from scratch to deliver a robust, portable experience. The process required careful planning, efficiency, and stability due to the remote locations and the need for full portability. The app has proven its ability to unite families through the age-old art of storytelling, combined with unprecedented interactivity for something heartfelt and entirely unique to service families. As a communication tool, it can genuinely be described as a game-changer and is making a real difference in the lives of military children.
LEAVING MESSAGES BACK HOME.
With my husband away on a 6-month deployment and my children, Henry aged 2 and Matilda aged 6 months old, your app is so important to play to our babies, so they remember daddy. They don’t understand why he isn’t here, so they love seeing and hearing daddy.
THE RESULTS.
The app has been met with extraordinary acclaim from military personnel and their families since its launch. Over 8,000 stories have been watched and enjoyed, and the app has been featured on BBC News and in the Daily Express. The most significant evidence of its success comes from the families themselves:

"I am an army wife and my husband is deployed to Afghanistan for 4 months. This is our 3rd deployment but 1st for our 3-year-old. He always struggles whenever his dad goes away. This time we decided to download the Little Troopers app and give it a go. My husband recorded the stories in the app and let our little one know that he has recorded the videos and whenever he misses him he can watch them. I found him looking at the videos the other day and had to fight back tears. I could not thank the Little Troopers enough for making this possible. Thank you very much from the bottom of our heart.”

Cantarus and Little Troopers would like to give special thanks to ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, whose funding made the Little Troopers Treasures app possible.
Thanks to all the hard work from the team at Cantarus, I am really proud that we have been able to launch Little Troopers Treasures. Less than a month after launching we are already seeing the impact it's having on families and the smiles it’s bringing to children’s faces.
Louise Fetigan, Founder & Operations Director
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