Teddy bears for soldiers’ children
Published: February 23, 2007
More than 200 teddy bears have been sent from a Canadian British Columbia community to the Canadian Forces garrison in Edmonton, destined for children of Afghanistan-bound soldiers.
The project is the brainchild of Warren Mears, manager of the government liquor store in the northeastern city of Fort St. John.
He said the store sells the bears to raise money for charities every Christmas, and there were lots of bears left over this year.
“I had a couple hundred bears sitting here, and I was thinking of something different to do with them. I was watching the news the night before, and it was the Canadian Army in Afghanistan and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be kind of interesting if we could maybe set something up with the military?’ ”
Mears decided to get local children involved in the effort. He phoned Doug McCracken, principal of Bert Ambrose Elementary School in Fort St. John, to see if his students would write notes of encouragement to go with the teddy bears.
McCracken said the students were more than happy to participate. “We talked to 200 students and everyone was in favour of the project. They thought it was a cool idea.”
The bears and children’s notes are now at the Edmonton garrison and will be given to soldiers as they prepare to deploy overseas to give to their children.
Soldiers from the Alberta base are heading for Afghanistan this month.
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