Why Teddy Bears?

As a non-profit that hosts various events, there are questions we often get asked and some of the most common include: Why teddy bears? How did you get started? And even, why are you doing this? In this blog we want to go ahead and answer those questions and the answers are much simpler than you might expect.

How did you get started? Why are you doing this?

You can read our ‘mission’ section to see more of our history, but Joseph Sprung started this organization as Bears 4 Kids in 2003 as a way to bring light into the lives of hospitalized children. Seeing how effective and important it was to give these children comfort, and a new friend, Joe was inspired to expand the mission and he started teaming up with special education schools. After donating teddy bears to the schools, Joe realized that the children could benefit just as much from giving away a teddy bear as receiving one, and so a new program was born! The Bear Givers Empowerment Program was created to share the gift of giving with children who don’t often have the opportunity to give back. We went from simply gifting teddy bears to children, to gifting them one to keep and one to give to someone special. Giving people the opportunity to experience what it’s like to give something to others is our driving force. We aim to empower, inspire, and help those going through a difficult time. Although we started with hospitals, we provide teddy bears to all kinds of organizations now! Camps, hospitals, schools, and even after-school programs aimed at helping others. Just take a look through our gallery to see how far our bears have come!

Continuing to empower and inspire children was a huge part of our mission, so we began to sponsor Art Shows, where the children could showcase their art in a gallery setting, and guests could purchase their creations at an opening reception! One of the best parts of these art shows is getting to see the kids enjoy themselves, and feel proud of their artwork as everyone can walk around the gallery and appreciate it. Whether it’s family members, friends, teachers, the local community members or even our Bear Givers staff present at the event, there is always plenty of artwork purchased by the end of the night.

We have shared many times how important teddy bears are to people facing hardships, stress, and loneliness. If you would like to read a more detailed account of the psychology behind teddy bears and why we feel so connected to them, check out this blog. A pared down explanation would find that teddy bears are transitional objects; they offer us an easy route of comfort and love that is unfortunately quite hard to come by in this day and age. Whether you're a child facing difficulties at home, or simply want a souvenir of a good memory, a simple teddy bear is the perfect way to remember a family trip, a birthday, holiday etc. Teddy bears are a classic gift for everyone, no matter their age! A historically good gift for friends, family members, and anyone going through a difficult time, there’s a reason these simple gifts have stood the test of time. Let’s look at how the teddy bear has evolved to become not just the toy we want but the toy we need as we face various crises in the world today.

We’re not all about only promoting ourselves, here are some of our favorite bear missions, and a link to a blog post where we highlighted some of the other amazing nonprofits that align with our mission!

Bears for Refugees:

As the Afghan refugee crisis continues, Debra Manske has made it her mission to make the children feel more at home, and offer a sense of comfort in what is sure to be an incredibly trying time in their lives. South Milwaukee resident Debra Manske sews teddy bears by hand from her home to be given to refugee children who have arrived in the United States. Mankse recognizes the huge amount of need, noting that Ft. George alone houses 4,500 children under the age of 12. If you would like to help her sew handmade teddy bears for these kids, you can email her at debra.monthei@gmail.com.

Memory Bears:

Heather Connolly from Springfield, Illinois has been sewing memory bears for her local community since April of 2021. She takes a piece of old clothing from the deceased, or whoever is being honored, and makes a teddy bear or rabbit or whatever you like! Although her business was off to a slow start, within the past year she’s made more and more memory bears. Not in Springfield, Illinois? Not to worry- there are plenty of custom keepsake and memory bears available on sites like etsy with plenty of crafty sellers! While she’s not the only one doing something like this, it’s an incredible mission that we know is helping bring comfort to those coping with grief and/or loss.

We hope you learned a little bit more about us, and will consider supporting us this #givingtuesday!