Teddy bear drive spreads huggables countywide

A 7-year-old’s decision to give up some trappings of childhood spurred a stuffed toy drive that will comfort children across Stanislaus County.

Second-grader Elenore Thompson loved teddy bears, especially Build-A-Bears. Her room overflowed with bears she got for birthdays, Christmas and any other special occasion. But at the ripe old age of 7, Elenore felt she had outgrown teddy bears and decided to give them away, grandmother Clair Peck said.

“Seven’s a little more grown up. She’s moving on to American Girl dolls,” Peck said with a chuckle.

On Friday, Elenore donated most of her 130-bear collection, plus hundreds more stuffed animals collected at Big Valley Grace Christian School, to the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District.

“I wanted to help other kids,” the young philanthropist said before being called to the front of the playground to give a short speech. The school drive collected 528 stuffed animals, she announced to the crowd.

On hand to accept delivery, and show kids the fire engine, were Stanislaus Consolidated fire engineers Derek Nichols and Mike Avila, and firefighter Gary McAndrews.

“She collected enough animals to just about supply the whole county’s fire engines with stuffed animals. It’s very, very awesome,” Nichols told the crowd.

Nichols said he gives out two or three toys a month, with other fire crews doing roughly the same. “We use stuffed animals for quite a few things. When a child’s hurt, it’s a way to connect with them when they’re very, very scared. When we need them to tell us where they’re hurt, it kind of gets the conversation going,” he said.

“When we’re on a call where mom or dad gets hurt, and they’re there and they see that, it’s more comfort issues for them,” Nichols said. The 528-bear bounty will be shared with other departments, he said. “There are other toy drives, but she basically smoked them all.”

Elenore’s teacher, Suzi Boren, said she emphasizes service to others and giving back in her class. “I told the class, we don’t know the children who will get the bears, but these will help calm them down and help them feel loved in a special way,” Boren said.

A bag of bears also went to an orphanage, said mom Veronica Thompson, part of a giving spree she said was inspired in Boren’s class. Elenore did keep about 14 bears, her favorite princess models and those with her voice recorded on them. “We, the family, couldn’t give up those,” she said.

This story was originally published November 8, 2014 at 10:30 PM with the headline "Teddy bear drive spreads huggables countywide."