Welcome to The Teddy Bear Fund
We hope you enjoy our site and will leave with an understanding of who we are, what
we do, and how we do it. I will begin with a brief history of how we came
into existence, explain our mission, describe our methods and tell you how we've
gone about our business. Hopefully I will pique your interest and encourage you
to get involved in some way.
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Creation of The Teddy Bear Fund
In March of 2004, a group of seven concerned citizens gathered to discuss an
ever growing problem within our society. For one reason or another, hundreds of
children from underprivileged families throughout New Hampshire were falling
through the cracks of existing social service organizations. We felt that a non
profit organization must be created to act as a safety net for these kids and
that we should take up that task. The Teddy Bear Fund was born that evening. An
Executive Director was elected and a six person Board of Directors formed.
Officers were elected and the mission began. Over the next few months By-Laws
were created, Articles of Incorporation were filed with the State, and in June
we were federally approved as a 501(C)(3) Non Profit Corporation.
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Our Mission Statement
"The Teddy Bear Fund has been formed as a non profit service organization for
the purpose of providing new clothing and toys for children of underprivileged
families residing in Merrimack County in the State of New Hampshire. Funding
will be obtained through private donations as well as a variety of fund-raising
activities. Operation will be year-round both in our assistance program and in
raising funds."
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Eligible Clientele
Early on it was apparent to us that in order to discover which children
needing help were being missed, we would need to partner with other service
organizations and take our lead from them. Each group has guidelines they must
adhere to and client disqualifications happen. Funding is always an issue and
occasionally budgets are overwhelmed by requests. Deserving clients would need
to be refused. These are the children we were looking for. The Teddy Bear Fund
derives its clientele through the recommendations and referrals of these
agencies. As we have gained greater name recognition, the number of children we
have been able to assist has grown tremendously. Many of these organizations are
listed under the "Organizations" section of this site.
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I invite you now to peruse this site. Please
check out our activities from the past, current happenings, and our plans for
future events.
John St. Laurent, Executive Director
The Teddy Bear Fund
13 Kara Drive
Chichester, NH 03234
teddybearfund@aol.com
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