When Saratoga’s Pam Dunnett noticed 200 donated teddy bears sitting idle within the American Most cancers Society’s Alameda workplace, she knew she couldn’t let the stuffed animals go to waste.
Dunnett, who works with the American Most cancers Society, determined together with fellow volunteer Donna Adam, previously of the Stanford Most cancers Middle Affected person and Household Advisory Council, to begin a donation marketing campaign with the bears, promoting them for $100 to assist increase funds for childhood most cancers analysis. Dunnett and different volunteers ship the bears to native hospitals like Lucile Packard Kids’s Hospital and Kaiser in order that pediatric most cancers sufferers are met with a pleasant – and cuddly – face after they first arrive for remedy.
Volunteers ship the teddy bears–clad in plastic baggage to maintain them sterile–to sufferers with a word that reads, “Sending you a bear hug.”
“They’re the most cuddly bears; just immediately you cuddle it,” Dunnett mentioned, including that volunteers have heard “just how great it is to have something to give to the patients when they come in. It’s just so comforting.”
The Brave Bears marketing campaign, can also be elevating funds to assist placed on Brave Youngsters Day – a longstanding annual occasion at Nice America in Santa Clara on Mom’s Day that gives a day of free entry to the amusement park for younger most cancers sufferers and their households.
Dunnett mentioned the occasion offers most cancers sufferers and their households with a day to have enjoyable and revel in Nice America, and to be round different households who’re going via the identical hardships.
“Over the years, I figure we have served some 70,000 families from all over California with this special day that we call ‘a day away from cancer,’” mentioned Homosexual Crawford, founding father of Brave Youngsters Day.
Dunnett mentioned the roughly 250 bears that she has helped distribute up to now via the marketing campaign have supported analysis for pediatric most cancers, certainly one of “the most unfunded cancers.”
“These bears have been a nice added focus for us; the kids get the bears, and the monies go to childhood cancer research,” Adam mentioned.
Dunnett mentioned she’s all the time searching for individuals who wish to sponsor a set of bears or assist ship them to native hospitals. Contact her at pdunnett@me.com or Adam at donnabyc@gmail.com.
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