Girl who donates bears nominated for award
Published: April 26, 2007
One day about six months ago, Victoria Layton was sitting in her room looking at her many stuffed animals, wondering what to do with all of them.
“I was thinking, ‘some kids don’t have any,’ ” she said. “I was thinking, ‘I’ve got a lot I don’t want anymore, people at school have bears they don’t want anymore, so we should donate them.’ ”
Victoria, 11, took up a collection at Pitts School Road Elementary, where she is a fifth-grader, and at the workplace of her mom, Cindy. Victoria then took them to local firemen and police officers to give to children in traumatic situations.
Because of Victoria’s Bears of Hope, and other activities, Layton is one of 119 semifinalists out of 1,300 entrants all over the country in the Huggable Heroes contest, sponsored by Build-A-Bear Workshop.
Huggable Heroes is for children who do community service, said Kate Werkheiser, chief workshop manager at the Concord Mills Build-A-Bear Workshop.
There will be 30 finalists announced around April 17, and 10 Huggable Heroes will then be selected to be honored at a July ceremony in St. Louis.
Because this is the 10th anniversary of the company, each Huggable Hero gets $10,000 from the Build-A-Bear Workshop Foundation.
Of the money, $7,500 is for an educational scholarship, and $2,500 goes to the child’s community service organization.
Layton is the only one in the Charlotte area who was selected this year, Werkheiser said. Two years ago, there was a finalist from Gastonia, she said.
“She does also get $50 gift card to the store for being a semifinalist,” Werkheiser said.
Layton said she will probably use the gift card to make a bear to donate and buy some extra bear clothes so the child who receives the furry friend can change its outfits.
“She’s always had a giving heart,” Cindy said.
Victoria started giving at a young age, her mother said, when they lived near the Church of God Children’s Home. One day, Victoria asked her mother why there were so many children there.
Cindy explained the situation, and since then, Victoria has organized giving Christmas and Easter basket for the children, and even asked her friends to give her birthday gifts to the children’s home.
They have donated between 500 and 600 bears in the six months since Victoria started the program, Cindy estimates.
“I’ve always loved to give to people and see how happy it makes them when they get stuff,” Victoria said. “I have so much, and some kids don’t have anything.”
Her mother and grandmother were always volunteering, which inspired Victoria, but one of the major reasons she volunteers is because of her adopted grandmother, the late Miss Becky, Victoria said.
For two or three years, Victoria would visit a woman she called Miss Becky in a local retirement home who didn’t have any family in the area.
“I learned a lot from her, about how things were in the old days. She would tell me stories,” Victoria said.
Miss Becky always encouraged Victoria to contribute to others, because it helped leave a mark on the world.
Victoria was nominated by her brother, Jason, 22, after he saw something about Huggable Heroes in a calendar they had gotten at her birthday party, which she had at Build-A-Bear Workshop.
He mentioned to Cindy that she should nominate Victoria, but she told him it would be “cheesy” because of course a mother would nominate and be proud of her daughter.
Jason then decided to nominate his little sister himself, writing about her activities. They had almost forgotten about the nomination when they got a letter in the mail saying Victoria was a semi-finalist a few weeks ago.
They plan to hold another bear drive soon, and are trying to expand the drives into some of Victoria’s other activities, which include cheerleading, singing, and playing the concert harp.
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