Teddy Bear
Fund Adult Trike Race
(at Concord
Market Days 2008)
A Very Special Day
Elizabeth is a delightful, charming young lady, 11 years of age who
happens to have a series of serious medical issues. She has been raised
since the age of one by her grandmother and grandfather. In an ironic
twist of fate, Grandma is battling with her third bout of cancer. This
situation was brought to our attention by one of our partner
organizations, Partners In Health. Generally, the Teddy Bear Fund steps
in to give the siblings of the ill child a "special day" but in this
case, it was obvious to us all that here was a family that could really
use a day of comfort and happiness, a rare commodity for families facing
these types of situations.
Saturday, April 12 was designated by our members as Elizabeth's
day. After first consulting Grandma on what Elizabeth's favorite things
were, and which activities she could participate in, we went into
action! We met at McDonalds at 9:30 AM, using it as a staging area; we
began a day of fun and gifts. Our plan was to visit the family every
hour with new surprises. Elizabeth's two young cousins were invited to
join in the festivities.
On our first visit, Elizabeth was presented with a framed award of
Excellence in being a "Terrific Kid". She was more than surprised, as
everyone had done a great job of keeping this day a secret. We had
learned that she is a voracious reader and loves to swim so she was
given a series of six age appropriate books featuring a clan of cats,
and a certificate allowing her free admission to the pool at a local
hotel. We adults melted as the huge smile swept her face and her
distinctive dimples deepened. We told her that her day had just begun
and that we would return.
Gram had informed us that like every young girl Elizabeth was a
huge Hannah Montana fan (Duh). So on to the next trip we delivered a
Hanna Touring bus that opened into a recording studio. It played her
music and was filled with multiple doo-dads to play with. In addition we
added two more versions of Hannah dolls and clothing which sang
additional songs. Elizabeth did well to control her enthusiasm until we
were out the door, at which time we heard the girlish squeals of
delight!
At 11:45 more members and two member's children met us at
McDonalds. It was lunchtime and Gram had informed us that Elizabeth's
favorite food was Chinese take-out and given us a list of her usual
choices. We purchased enough to stuff not only her but the cousins and
grandparents as well and delivered it to them. The smiles grew and the
dimples got deeper.
We had learned that our "Terrific Kid" had a great fondness for
animals and held a special place in her heart for wolves. She had not
only studied them extensively, but had even adopted one through an
agency in Massachusetts. At 1:00 we surprised her with a variety of wolf related
items. Included were a wonderfully life-like wolf puppet, wolf puzzles
(she and gram make puzzles together) and a beautiful wall hanging of
wolves. It was obvious that we had touched a soft spot as she checked
out the items with a noticeable reverence.
Our final surprise incorporated Elizabeth's
favorite activity...Bowling. All of our members involved in the day
brought Elizabeth, Gram, and the cousins to Boutwells for some bowling.
Boutwells (of Concord) provided many gifts to the kids including free
shoe rental and free strings! What a ball we had. The laughter and sheer
joy of the day, the hugs and warm thank yous were payback in plenty for
the member’s hard work in making this happen.
I hope you've enjoyed sharing this experience. We bring you these
examples of what the Teddy Bear Fund does to show you what we do with
your donations and participation in our fund raisers. For those of you
who have not yet jumped on board, we offer you the opportunity to join
in with us in making life just a bit happier for children in need.
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Christmas - 2007
I am pleased to announce that once again The Teddy Bear Fund was able to fulfill every request we received for help in providing a Christmas for the children of our clientele in the year 2007. The final tally is in and we were able to serve 212 children. Each child received both clothing and toys, prepared from wants and needs provided by the parents and the children themselves. Working with families from such organizations as Partners In Health, Merrimack Valley day Care in Boscawen, Chad in Hanover, the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as our own clients, we fulfilled our role as the "safety net" organization for the children.
Obviously, we could not have done this alone. A lot of the requests were placed on "Giving Trees" where names were chosen by generous people and the wishes granted. We warmly thank our friends at The Circle Restaurant, The Epsom Town Library, and the Merrimack Savings Bank of Bow for allowing us to use their locations for trees and pick-ups. We are also in the debt of the many people who took the tags and filled the wishes found within. Their generosity was overwhelming and many gave far beyond the requests. We are also extremely grateful to those people who donated financial support, allowing us to take in requests far after our deadline. My final thank you is reserved for my fellow members of the Teddy Bear Fund, who worked so diligently throughout the year to make this Christmas success possible.
Thank you all so much, and may you enjoy a New Year of happiness, good health and prosperity
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Kerry's Day
Every now and then we are asked to work along with our friends at the Partners In Health Program, to assist with making a client family's life just a bit easier. The Partners In Health
(PIH) works with families who have children with chronic health conditions, providing education, support and encouragement according to each family's needs. As we all know, the ill children and the parents are not the only ones affected by the medical situation. The siblings of the ill child oft times feel "left out of the loop", fear for their brother or sister, spend less time with their parents and feel a loss of attention. This situation is one more source of stress on the parents, and it is here that we step in to try and help by providing a special day for the sibling.
Saturday, November 17, was one such day We are going to call it Kerry's Day.
At the September party for the client families of Partners In Health, we met a wonderful Mom and her two lovely daughters. The elder of the two (we will call her Terri)
is seven and the younger, Kerry, is five. Terri had been diagnosed with a rare genetic condition that had necessitated many trips to hospitals and specialists. Mom and Dad were both working two jobs and the strain was evident. Kerry, too young to fully understand all that was happening, was truly feeling left out. We offered to provide a special day that would be all about Kerry and a date was set. Mom filled us in on Kerry's favorite things and we took it from there! Kerry had no clue what was about to happen for her.
Saturday morning arrived and Jennifer and I met Janice from PIH at a restaurant near Kerry's home. This was to be our staging area throughout the day. At precisely 10:00 AM we arrived at Kerry's house. She recognized us from the party but was very surprised to see us. It was so fortunate that Dad had been able to get away from work so the whole family could be together. We told her that the Teddy Bear Fund had held a contest to find the "Best Little Sister in the World" and that she had won! We presented her with a framed certificate and told her that certain prizes would come to her throughout the day. Kerry loves fruit....more than candy or cakes or anything , so we presented her with the most incredible fresh fruit bouquet (donated by our friends at Edible Arrangements) and she and her sister dug right in. We also knew she adored the Disney Princesses so we gave her a large porcelain Snow White doll. She was thrilled with everything!
From there we said goodbye and told her we would be back.
When we arrived back at 11:00, the bouquet of fruit had been ravaged. We presented her with another Disney Doll, a Princess DVD and a plastic food set, from which she fed us all! We went back to the restaurant , said goodbye to Jennifer and welcomed TBF member Bob and his wonderful daughter Daisy to the crew. Off we went again to see Kerry
again. We arrived at Noon and the Fruit Bouquet was demolished! The kids were laughing and playing and Mom and Dad were beaming ear to ear. More presents were handed out and we arranged to meet the family at 1:00 at Kerry's favorite Pizza Parlor for her favorite Cheese pizza.
What a time that was!!!
The pies were devoured in no time and at this time, Lisa and Tiffany, fellow TBF Board Members joined us. We were quite a crew and by this time, one big happy family. Suddenly, Mom came through the door with a birthday cake and everyone began singing. I joined right in thinking how nice it was that someone had thought to bring a cake, until I realized they were looking at me and I remembered it was my birthday! Mom had been making the cake all through our morning visits. I defy anyone to find a better way to spend a birthday. When all was done and cleaned up, we told Kerry that there was one more thing left and it involved a car ride.
We formed a caravan and wended our way to Pennacook, ending at the Animal Shelter. We walked Kerry in and told her we were there to pet and visit the animals, which we did. But there was a special cage that the wonderful ladies there brought out with the most amazing bunny in it. One ear was down and the other was up; it was adorable and gentle as could be. Kerry and Terri sat and petted it and when we told them that it was going home with them, they were just overwhelmed! The cage was even donated by the facility. Outside we said our goodbyes. We hugged and promised to keep in touch and no one left there quite the same as when the morning began. Personally, I will carry the smiles, giggles, warmth and happiness of that day with me the rest of my life.
What I would like to say to all who read this is that, the Teddy Bear Fund could not do these days if it were not for the support and generosity of so many fine people who keep us in business. This has been written as just one example of where your money goes when you donate to the Teddy Bear Fund.
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The Teddy Bear Fund Joins Walk
