Columbus Lowe’s employees, family members and friends stuff hundreds of plush toys for patients at Riley Hospital for Children, an effort organized to assist the nonprofit Teddy Bear Love Fund.
Photo provided
Employees of the Lowe’s store in Columbus, joined by family members and friends, came together last weekend to stuff hundreds of teddy bears to donate to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
“Lowe’s really wanted to touch 1,000 kids, and they were able to touch 1,301,” said Bonnie Shehan, President of the Columbus-based Teddy Bear Love Fund nonprofit. Lowe’s effort on behalf of the charity gathered volunteers who stuffed 701 plush teddy bears and provided 600 sensory toys, Shehan said. Sensory toys include stress-relieving items such as fidget spinners, pop toobs and rattles.
In addition to serving Riley, Shehan said the charity provides teddy bears and therapeutic gifts for children at Columbus Regional Health, Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, Ascension St. Vincent Jennings in North Vernon and Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis.
Shehan said group teddy bear stuffing parties like the one at Lowe’s have become popular for the charity that has been working as a nonprofit for a little more than a year. “It’s a great way to help children and make it memorable,” she said, noting it’s not unusual for four generations to be participating in events.
In its first year, Shehan said the fund served 8,100 children, but the need is greater. The organization has a goal of serving 10,000 children per year and relies on volunteers and donations to do so.
Shehan noted that her daughter, Kim Shehan Douglass, launched a similar charity in 1995 after she was injured in a car accident, gathering about 350 stuffed animals for the Columbus Police and Columbus Fire Departments. Douglass, who now lives in Seymour, told her son Roger about that, “and he decided he wanted to do this,” Shehan said. The nonprofit was established a short time later.
The bear facts
The Teddy Bear Love Fund provides teddy bears and comforting sensory toys for children at five hospitals.
Learn more about how you can volunteer, donate or help at theteddybearlovefund.org, the Facebook page for Teddy Bear Love Fund, contact President Bonnie Shehan at [email protected], or call 812-603-5412.
