Bear Hugs Discovery School Student Emma Scherer Collecting Stuffed Animals For Venezuelan Kids
To children, a stuffed toy can be many things - best friend, confidant, comforter.
As kids get older, however, the teddy bears, Tiggers and Tickle-Me Elmos gradually get set aside for more “grown-up” pursuits.
Storing those stuffed toys in closets and boxes wastes their potential, according to Emma Scherer, a Discovery School sixth-grader and stuffed-animal enthusiast.
The 12-year-old wants to send “gently loved” stuffed animals to Venezuela, where they’ll provide comfort to the thousands of children traumatized by December’s massive mudslides.
The immediate needs after the disaster were for food, water and shelter. But also important are the emotional needs of the children, Emma said.
“I think everyone should have a stuffed animal that they can cuddle and hug,” she said. “When you are having a bad time, it just feels good to embrace something.”
Emma has collected 1,034 toys so far with the help of friends and family and hopes to have 3,000 by May.
She said she got the idea to collect stuffed animals for needy children after she found 20 perfectly good toys in a Dumpster.
At first, she thought of sending them to Kosovo, Yugoslavia.
“I just kind of thought that if I were a kid there, I would want something to hug,” she said.
Then Venezuela was hit in late December by that country’s worst disaster in history. Floods and mudslides caused by three days of torrential rains washed away or buried entire neighborhoods in the capital city of Caracas.
Between 5,000 and 30,000 people are believed dead and at least 100,000 people are homeless, according to Red Cross estimates.
About 7,000 children have been orphaned, officials said.
Emma learned through a family friend that former Ms. Venezuela, Cristal Joslin, has partnered with the Venezuela general consulate to start Bear Hugs for Venezuela, a Houston-based project to send 100,000 teddy bears to the ravaged country.
Joslin has collected 17,500 bears so far and is working out the complicated logistics of shipping the stuffed animals to South America and then delivering them to Caracas children.
If Emma can get what she has collected to Houston by May 15, Joslin said, Bear Hugs will send them with its shipment.
Now, Emma must figure out how to do that. The girl and her mom, Catharine, are looking at several options, including trucking or flying the boxloads of toys.
Emma said she’s up to the challenge, however. She’s learned from this project that she can achieve whatever she sets her mind to, although her success still surprises her.
“Most of my life, I’ve thought of really amazing ideas, but I never did anything with them,” she said.
This is the first time she’s actually followed one through, she said.
This sidebar appeared with the story:
DONATIONS
How to help
People interested in donating stuffed toys for children in Venezuela, or money to help pay for the shipping costs, can contact Emma Scherer at emster109@aol.com.