In April the Teddy Bear Brigade had the opportunity to ship 4,775 stuffed animals to children around the world bringing the total shipped for the year to 26,012. That number already surpasses last years total of 25,000. Several shipments were sent as part of our International Humanitarian Aid to the countries of El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

We were also able to send hundreds of stuffed animals to Woodward, OK as Tornado relief along with water and blankets and hundreds more to Miami, FL as part of a “Big Give” initiative by Trinity Church. During this “Big Give” people were invited to pick up shoes, clothing, baby supplies, personal care items and of course stuffed animals at no cost to them. This was a way to demonstrate love to communities who have been hit hardest by the economy and was just another way to fulfill our mission of bringing comfort and love to hurting children around the world.

Thank you for all of our supporters for your help in making this happen. Be sure and “like” us on facebook in order to receive the latest updates.

“In October 2011 I was visiting at Gleaning for the World during their open house opportunity for volunteers. Several of the staff were asking about my upcoming trip to Burundi, Africa. As always I was very glad to share my plans for my upcoming trip. As I passed through the warehouse Mike asked if I would be interested in taking any stuffed animals.  I reminded him of our space limitations. However, there was a request forthcoming from Chris Ellis who spearheads the Teddy Bear Brigade. He had been approached by a woman with 2 teddy bears that belonged to her daughters who had passed away. She wanted to donate the bears but wanted to be sure the bears went to sisters. Now in the realistic scheme of things when donations such as this are taken there is no real way to know who receives which teddy bear. God however knew the plan!

The students at R.C. Longan Elementary School collected and donated 450 stuffed animals this past week to the Teddy Bear Brigade.  This collection all started when two students, Alex and Sam Hurst, saw the devastation that recent tornadoes had brought to the children in the Midwest.  They decided that they wanted to collect stuffed animals to give to children who had lost everything. They wrote a letter to their principal asking permission to collect at the school.  This is what they wrote:

Dear Dr. Hall,

Last week there were some very bad tornadoes near our Aunt Grace’s house in Indiana. Some kids lost all of their stuff. We wanted to find a way to help kids like them. There is a group called the Teddy Bear Brigade. They collect stuffed animals for kids suffering after natural disasters, wars, and sickness. We e-mailed them and they said they would help us run a collection at Longan. We are asking for your permission to start our own Teddy Bear Brigade at Longan .If you approve our plan we would go on the morning announcements and ask kids to bring in new or gently used stuffed animals to donate. We would need a collection space at Longan for kids to drop them off. Our mom would drive us to drop them off at Teddy Bear Brigade Headquarters. If you let us do this, we would like for you to put it in the Longan Letters and send a call to all Longan families to tell them about the collection. If we get your approval we would like to announce it at the PTA meeting March 15. The Teddy Bear Brigade Group said they would give us some flyers , posters, and banners. We hope you will consider letting us collect donations to help kids around the world, it would mean a lot to us. Thank you. 
Your students, 
Alex and Sam Hurst

Thanks and congratulations to Alex, Sam and all the students/staff at R.C. Longan Elementary School for their desire to reach out and make a difference in the lives of children.

]]> http://teddybearbrigade.com/2012/04/12/rs-longan-elementary-school-donates-450-stuffed-animals/feed/ 0 http://teddybearbrigade.com/2012/04/05/record-1st-quarter-for-tbb/ http://teddybearbrigade.com/2012/04/05/record-1st-quarter-for-tbb/#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:44:19 +0000 Chris Ellis http://teddybearbrigade.gftw.org/?p=1411 Just this week, we surpassed the significant mark of sending 20,000 stuffed animals to hurting kids since the beginning of the year. The actual number is 21,237 – which means that some 21,237 children around the world now have a stuffed animal to call their own.

Our mission is to provide comfort, security and love to children who are suffering from the effects of war, natural disaster, famine, poverty and so much more. Thousands of children suffer tremendous loss every day, but the Teddy Bear Brigade aims to bring a little hope back into their lives.

Since 2001, the Teddy Bear Brigade has given an estimated 300,000 children stuffed animals – and the goal for 2012 is to give 75,000 kids this small gift of their own. Please find out here how you can get involved in changing the lives of children all over the world through the gift of a stuffed animal.

Wednesday | 10 a.m. – Gleaning For The World has shipped 13 tractor-trailer loads of disaster relief supplies to the Midwest tornado victims, valued at over $330,000. Supplies sent include bottled water, blankets, non-perishable food items, cleaning supplies and stuffed animals. More loads will continue going out in the coming days.

The stuffed animals that have been sent have already made an immediate impact on the young children who’ve lost everything.  We are hearing amazing stories from our representatives in the field distributing these goods.  If you would like to donate toward our work click here to learn how to donate stuffed animals or here to make a financial donation.  GFTW expects to take part in the coordination of over five million pounds of relief items, which will serve over 250,000 victims.  Please consider partnering with us in our mission to keep supporting those in need and keep checking back for more updates.

It didn’t take long for the “Teddy’s” to start flying during Friday night’s LU Hockey game versus Central Oklahoma.  After just 2 minutes and 1 sec of regulation play the Flames scored their first goal of the game which signaled to the fans it was time to toss their stuffed animals.  It took several minutes for them to all make it onto the ice and when they were finally collected more than 400 stuffed animals had made the flight.  All of these stuffed animals were donated to the Teddy Bear Brigade and will be distributed to needy children later this year.

This was the 1st annual “Teddy Bear Toss” for the LU Men’s Hockey team and plans are already being made for next year’s toss.  The Flames ended the night by defeating Central Oklahoma 8-2.  You can follow the Liberty Flames by clicking here.

If you’d like to support the Teddy Bear Brigade in it’s efforts to provide stuffed animals during disasters go to our How to Help page.