BEAVERCREEK — A holiday tradition is still going strong, helping collect more than 8 million stuffed bears for children who have to spend the holidays in the hospital.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, the Beavercreek Police Department teamed up with Bears4Children’s to make this donation possible.
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Bears4Children’s President Callista Neff said the community was invited to the Build-a-Bear at The Mall at Fairfield Commons on Tuesday for the donation drive.
“We get the community together to stuff, purchase and donate Build-a-Bears that are going to go to kids that spend the holidays at Dayton Children’s,” Neff said.
After people make the bears, they get to name them and sign a card to go with each one.
The organization will then put the stuffed bears in drawstring bags and deliver them to Dayton Children’s Hospital.
On Tuesday, Beavercreek police officers came out to help.
“It’s been many, many years since I was little that they’ve been doing this and they come out, they have fun, it’s great for them to be able to interact with the community and also just a fun event for them to be at and they help us stuff bears, sign cards, load them up,” Neff said.
“This is one that our officers look forward to every year, to be able to come out and make a bear or two, sign a card, and just know that that bear is gonna go to a child in need this Christmas,” Beavercreek police officer Travis O’Neil said.
Neff said this tradition started after she and her brother spent time in the hospital as children.
“He received a stuffed monkey because he stayed for a few days, and so my mom had the idea of getting some cousins together, and the first year back in 2008, we stuffed 12 bears. So it just became a really fun family tradition and more and more people wanted to get involved,” she said.
Neff added they didn’t try to make this family tradition into an event.
“More and more people got involved in and so you’re like, okay, let’s make this into something, and so it’s really grown,” Neff said.
Overall, this event helped get 4,500 bears to children in the hospital.
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