EV Students Collect, Clean Stuffed Animals

They started out grimy, in need of baths, stitching, and in some cases, new eyes and noses.

They’d been loved nearly to death. Now, these stuffed animals will get to return the favor.

“Sometimes you just need something to hold on to,” said 17-year-old Beth Gonder, who worked with two other East Valley High School students to collect and donate more than 530 new and used stuffed toys to the Sheriff’s Department this week. The puppies, bears and bunnies will ride on patrol with sheriff’s deputies, and provide comfort to children in crisis.

“It was a lot of work, but the cause is worth it,” said Gonder, a stuffed animal lover who gave away 20 of her own childhood toys.

“I love them to death,” she said. “They’re my comfort whenever I need help.”

Gonder collected the toys with fellow students Shawna and Danyeal McNelly. They set out bins at the high school, put up flyers and announced the stuffed animal drive over the school’s intercom.

The collection was a project for Future Homemakers of America, a school community service group.

“I was guessing we’d get 200 at the most,” Gonder said.

Instead, in just one week students and teachers filled the bins with more than twice that many toys, and donated more than $100 to buy dozens of new plush animals.

The teens piled the animals into Gonder’s grandmother’s station wagon and took them home. They spent nearly nine hours one Saturday at a laundromat, washing and drying the colorful animals. From the bottom of each load, they collected miscellaneous eyes and noses, saving them for later repairs.

The teens sewed up paws and rips, and replaced missing eyes and noses on several dozen animals. Finally, they traveled around the Valley, asking stores to donate shopping bags for each of the toys.

On Wednesday, the teens turned the animals over to Sgt. Martin O’Leary of the Sheriff’s Department traffic unit.

“It kind of hits me sometimes - this is going to help someone who really needs help,” Gonder said. “It has felt really great.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo