Teddy bears have always been a source of comfort for Dee Dee Van Dyne.
When Van Dyne was a second-grader, a special reading teacher gave her a teddy bear for her birthday. She turned to that bear for comfort when other students teased her for not being able to read and while her parents were going through a divorce.
She named that bear Fur Ball.
Van Dyne, who now is an 18-year-old senior at Ballard High School, still has Fur Ball, and the comfort she received from that worn bear inspired her to start a teddy bear collection organization at her school called the Fur Ball Foundation. Her goal is to collect as many bears as she can and distribute them before Christmas to children at Home of the Innocents and St. Joseph Children's Home.
"I'm just hoping the stuffed animals I give to the kids will be like their best friend, like Fur Ball was," said Van Dyne, who lives in St. Matthews with her mother Donna Van Dyne.
Van Dyne has made flyers, set up collection boxes, organized a student committee and invested more than $200, which she earned working part-time at Kroger, into the project. So far, she has collected about 70 new and gently used bears. She bought 25 of those bears herself.
Once the bears are collected, Van Dyne plans to personally deliver them before Christmas break starts on Dec. 17.
"I want the volunteers on my committee to hand the bears out and to let the children know that there's someone looking out for them and caring about them," she said.
Gordon Brown, president and CEO of the Home of the Innocents, which serves about 300 children locally, said that what Van Dyne and her peers are doing is "wonderful."
"It's always really touching for me when one group of young people take on a task like this - of helping other young people who are less fortunate," he said.
Van Dyne hopes that the bears will help others get through hard times.
During tough times, like when her grandmother had surgery recently, Van Dyne said that she turned to writing for comfort, but she will still give Fur Ball a squeeze.
"I'm too old for that, but it still gives me strength sometimes," she said.
Read more at voice-tribune.com
