By Barney Quick
For The Republic
The Teddy Bear Love Fund story began 29 years ago, spanning through three generations of a family who has first-hand experience with child hospitalization. The fund has evolved over the last couple of years and is now delighting patients at several central Indiana hospitals.
The basic idea behind the fund is organizers procure toy animals and stuffing and host stuffing parties, where volunteers prepare hundreds of them for distribution. It involves not only hands-on activity but sponsorships and publicity.
Their story began in 1995 when teenage siblings Kim Shehan Douglas and Josh Shehan and a four-year-old they were babysitting were involved in a serious car accident. Shehan was treated and released, and the toddler went to Riley Children’s Hospital. Douglas had to spend time in the Columbus Regional ICU, due to internal injuries. But while hospitalized, she started thinking about how she can bring some sparkle to the lives of young patients in similar situations.
Soon after her release, Douglas started the Teddy Bear Love Fund, raising enough money to provide 350 stuffed animals, via raffle and a dance, to the Columbus fire and police departments for first responders to hand out during situations involving children.
The fund ran smoothly and steadily until March 2023, when, as Shehan’s mother, Bonnie Shehan, said, “Kimmy was telling her son, Roger Douglas, about it.”
He revived the effort under the name Stuffed with Love, and with help from Douglas and Shehan, he raised enough money to buy 2,109 stuffed animals.
Word spread quickly.
“We started getting calls,” said Shehan. “We decided to apply for a 501(c) 3, which we got in July 2023.”
Since then, the organizers have changed the name back to Teddy Bear Love Fund and supply five area hospitals: Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital, Ascension St. Vincent Jennings Hospital, Riley’s Children Hospital, Schneck Medical Center and Columbus Regional Hospital, with hundreds of stuffed animals.
“We have to have 500 ready every month,” said Shehan.
To that end, Shehan has enlisted a group of volunteers, although she noted that the program can always use more, and the United Way’s helps in that regard.
Today, stuffing parties are becoming known for the socializing and levity that takes place.
“We often have four generations of one family sitting at one table, making memories,” Shehan observed.
Each stuffed animal wears a tag bearing the name of its sponsor, and several area organizations have hosted stuffing parties, with The Sanctuary Church on Central Avenue often providing space for each event. The fund has lined up an impressive array of sponsors, including Centra Credit Union, United Way, Lowe’s and Toyota Industrial Equipment. The fund’s website, www.theteddybearlovefund.org, provides information on how to become a sponsor.
Shehan said that, at a party hosted by Lowe’s, “a whole girls ball team came down from Terre Haute to help.”
Centra hosted a stuffing party at Brown County Music Center on October 14, at which 450 stuffers were present, and November 14, there will be stuffing parties open to the public at Edinburgh’s athletic center and community center.
In addition to stuffed animals, the fund distributes sensory toys and books. Sensory toys, such as pop tubes, reduce anxiety, promote tactile stimulation and give patients a sense of control. Teddy Bear Love has given out about 500 books to date.
Hospital staffs have been receptive to the program too.
“Nurses almost always kiss us,” said Shehan, who feels a sense of kinship with them, due to her past career in the medical field.
Shehan said that the patients’ well-being in a holistic sense is the core of the fund’s mission.
“Mental health in these kids is so important,” she stressed. “Even an infant can have PTSD. The faster you can get them calm, the less impact it has.”
She feels that the Teddy Bear Love Fund is a model that could be easily replicated in other areas.
“I would love to see that,” she said.
Shehan also stressed the connection between stuffers and recipients.
“Each animal gets a little heart placed loose in the stuffing,” said Shehan. It may never be seen, but “every stuffer leaves a piece of himself or herself in each animal.”
