Press Release: For Immediate Publication
JWF 0113
Teddy Bears
to share love and compassion with Sandy Hook
In light of the wall to wall
coverage over the past weeks of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and
the numbness of America during the holiday season, some have wondered how they
could help the people in Newtown.
Questions
have been coming from all directions, and there seems to be no definitive
answer. Until now…
Savannah
Fuller, age 10 and a 4th grader
at Central Elementary School wanted to do something which would be tangible, a
way of reaching out to those who were left behind to suffer and hurt in these
days following the horrendous events of December 14. How is that possible for a 4th grade student in Coosa County, many
miles away from Connecticut?
“Savannah and I approached Mrs.
Sheeley at Central Elementary and Sheriff Wilson on December 18,” Dr. Jeff
Fuller, Savannah’s father and pastor of the Rockford Baptist Church said, “and
pitched the idea of sending Teddy Bears to the students of Sandy Hook
Elementary in time for Valentine’s. Mrs.
Sheeley loved the idea and Sheriff
Wilson was overjoyed at the opportunity to help make the dream a reality.”
It really is a simple idea. Savannah will spend January collecting new,
plush Teddy Bears to send to Newtown the first week in February. She plans to place them in a plastic bag,
tie a string with a heart attached to it that says, “From Coosa County with
Love” on one side, on the other she wants to get students at her school to
write their name on the heart, thus personalizing each bear.
Yet, as simple as it sounds, she is
already coordinating her project with the leadership of her school, the Middle
School and the Coosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Savannah wants to involve as many as possible in her project, so that
she can provide bears for every student at Sandy Hook.
What is her
goal?
“I want to
send 500 or 600 teddy bears to those kids,” Savannah says, “so they will know
that we care. They will have a bear, and
a heart with a name on one side, and the county on the other, and can hug that
bear when they are thinking about the friends and teachers who were killed.”
She also
wants to make sure that the parents and families of the teachers and
administrators get a bear as well. “They
might want to keep the bear or they may decide to put it on the grave of their
loved one,” said Savannah, “which ever is fine with me. I just want them to know we love them, we
care, and we are praying for them.”
Each bear
donated will be between 6 to 8 inches.
“We could take bears up to 12 inches, but really nothing bigger than
that. Shipping them is going to be a
task and it will be better if we have some uniformity,” said Bro. Jeff.
Donations
of new, plush bears will be accepted throughout the month of January. As of press time, donation boxes will be in
the lobbies of Central Elementary and Middle School, the Coosa County Sheriff’s
Office and Rockford Baptist Church. The
deadline for receiving bears will be Thursday, January 31, 2013. There are others who have and will be asked
to participate in this project, as Savannah wishes to share in the joy of giving
with all who wish to help. You may
contact her at 256-377-4699 if you have any questions.
“I am so excited about the project
and look forward to working with everyone to see these kids get a bear,”
Savannah says. “I hope that I can
deliver them myself. I have asked Daddy
if this is possible, and he is working on the idea.”
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