Starting Dec. 7 all Regina Police Service vehicles will be stocked with packages from Teddy Bears Anonymous containing three sterile, cellophane wrapped bears. The hope is that the bears can help bring some comfort and normalcy to children going through a scary or tragic situation.
“By the nature of our jobs as first responders, we encounter these traumatic circumstances. Having a teddy bear in the trunk is just another tool in our belt so we can provide something meaningful to a child who’s experiencing a bad situation,” Sgt. Dean Yadlowski said.
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“We hope that they don’t have to use these teddy bears, but as Dean said, they’re there in tragic circumstances to comfort a child. Some of the visual impacts I don’t think even an adult wants to see,” Teddy Bears Anonymous founder Luke Lawrence said.
Lawrence began the charity in Dec. 2008 after the loss of his daughter Erin to a rare form of cancer. Since its inception, Teddy Bears Anonymous has donated over 133,000 bears to sick children in hospitals.
“When Erin was in the hospital there was only two things she received; flowers and quite a few teddy bears,” Lawrence said. “The flowers didn’t last too long but the teddy bears hung around for a while.”
Lawrence added that hospitals will only accept sterile bears in special packaging for sick children, so those are the ones the Teddy Bears Anonymous provides.
The Regina police and Teddy Bears Anonymous see this new partnership as a win-win situation.
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