Teddy Bears Anonymous, an organization aimed to bring a smile to the faces of sick children is now available at the Kindersley Hospital and from the EMS team.
A local Kindersley family, the Hildebrandt family, knows just how much of an impact Teddy Bears Anonymous can have on young children that are scared and hurting. Kinley Hidebrant, the spunky five-year-old of the family, was diagnosed with biliary atresia when she was only 2 ½ months old.
Biliary atresia is a liver disease that affects 1 in 10,000 – 20,000 infants, and if left untreated, may cause death before the infant is two years of age. Happily for Kinley, she underwent an operation called the Kasai procedure to halt the damage to her liver.
While Kinley was in and out of hospitals, the one thing that put a smile on her tired face was receiving teddy bears from Teddy Bear Anonymous. “It brought comfort and a little smile to all of us, even though we were often scared and not knowing what would happen next.” Kinley now has 10 Teddy Bears to her name, and the Hildebrandt family has positive memories they want to hand to others.
Last summer, Kinley’s older brother Coen raised nearly $200 for Teddy Bears Anonymous through a lucrative lemonade stand and online selling of Teddy Bears. In previous years, the family as a whole collected donated toys and items to send to the Royal University Hospital, and delivered them around the time of Kinley’s birthday.
“This spring, while collecting toys for the RUH pediatric ward, we decided we wanted to do something to benefit kids locally.” Kinley and Coen’s mother, Candis Hildebrandt, said the family aimed to help bring Teddy Bears Anonymous right to Kindersley.
The Kindersley community jumped right in to help. In April, students from the Elizabeth Middle School in Kindersley raised $455.55 in just two days by selling sundaes and baking. Hildebrandt said the money raised at that event was the nest egg for the Teddy Bears for Kindersley project. “Along with donations from the public, we raised $835.55 to bring the organization to Kindersley! I want to say a big thank you to the students from Elizabeth School!”
On June 11, the first bears were dropped off at the Kindersley Hospital, and supplied to the Kindersley EMS team. To help keep this service in Kindersley, there is a jar set up at registration at the Kindersley hospital for donations, and all donations over $20 are provided with a receipt.
Teddy Bears Anonymous is an organization that raises funds for bears to be gifted to children that are ill or injured in hospitals or ambulances. Each bear is individually cello wrapped and sterile, straight from the factory to the arms of a child. Run 100% by volunteers and donations, TBA is in 11 hospitals and 19 rural ambulance communities in Saskatchewan. The organization was started by Luke Lawrence of Regina, in memory of his daughter.
Thanks to the willingness of a family and a community to all give a little, a frightening, uncertain hospital visit can be changed into a comforting, positive experience for children in the Kindersley area.
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