27/07/2022
This is a charity I can wholeheartedly support. All run by volunteers! Great work!!
📣🧸📣🧸📣
As you may have seen on a previous post, we often receive teddy bears that are very old and delicate to send on to the children, so we send them to auction at Vectis in Stockton on Tees.
Here is a statement from them….
Vectis auction statement
The healing powers of the teddy bear have been known about since the early twentieth century.
Many charities have harnessed this appeal in various ways to help fund raise – raffles, name the teddy competitions to larger scale campaigns with bears being figureheads for a whole campaign or organisation.
The Teddy Trust has utilised the healing nature of teddy bears by working with traumatised and displaced children across the globe. Since its introduction in 2015, the charity has achieved so much in a relatively short and extraordinary time period. Over 130,000 teddy bears have provided comfort in 15 countries including Iraq, Kurdistan, Nepal, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Romania, Greece and Syria, collecting a Points of Light Award along the way. This is a recognition given to volunteers who are making a change in their community and is awarded by the Prime Minister.
The aim is to ease the suffering of children who have experienced the atrocities of war, live in extreme poverty, or who have had to flee to refugee camps with little more than the clothes they stand up in and an uncertain future or suffered any kind of abuse.
What is perceived to be such a small thing can have a lifechanging effect on a child, bringing comfort to those emotionally and physically scarred.
The therapeutic properties of a bear are multiple and include –
• Restful sleep – Cuddling a soft bear seals the link between emotional comfort and feeling calm, enabling children to feel less anxious enabling a peaceful rest.
• Combating fears – new surroundings, loss of family, friends, neighbours, having to move to a new area or country with an alien language can leave children feeling isolated, lonely and bereft. A constant companion to stay with them at all times can provide the stability and support a child needs at this traumatic time. It is proven to help with emotional wellbeing whilst reducing feelings of negativity and loss.
• No discrimination – A teddy bear never takes sides, it crosses cultural, religions and ability borders and provides comfort to all. This can be particularly important in war torn areas where children can feel displaced.
• Provide stimulation – Traumatised children can often close down as a coping mechanism. A teddy could be the first confidant they experience, something that is there for them alone, who will listen, it might be the first time a child is able to open up about their experiences but provide the coping skills to enable them to verbalise how they are feeling.
• Stimulation – Teddy bears are a blank canvas allowing endless possibilities for learning and play and in some cases may be the only toy the child has.
• Socialisation – Seeing another child with a bear provides a talking point and a chance for introductions and friendships. They can also provide confidence and reassurance as a child settles in to a new playgroup, school or neighbourhood.
So how did The Teddy Trust come about?
Ellie Somme, a former BBC Hereford and Worcester radio host was prompted to do something to help thousands of children around the world deal with traumatic experiences through her charity.
Ellie from Herefordshire, was inspired to set up the charity when a friend of hers, writer and charity founder and campaigner Judy Westwater, showed her photos of some of the children she had worked with in South Africa.
Ellie decided to send a teddy bear to one particular girl called Honour, who had been so badly abused that she couldn’t walk or talk. Inspired by the impact that one simple teddy bear could have, she then decided to send bears to as many children as she could to help them deal with stressful and traumatic incidents in their lives.
And so, the Teddy Trust was born, thanks to that little girl they called Honour.
Today, the operation is run entirely by volunteers – no one gets paid. There are no executive offices, no big cars and no bonuses, just plain honest charity.
The aim is to collect donations of teddies from across the UK and send them to comfort children all over the world.
All the bears are donated, giving the bears a new life and on some occasions preventing landfill. Due to the type of work the bears will be doing The Teddy Trust have to be quite specific about what they can accept. No snakes, monsters, keyrings, dolls, rag dolls, knitted toys, beanie babies, Ty toys, pillows, puppets, branded goods or plastic toys. No seals, fish, whales, monkeys or other animals. And definitely nothing that makes any sort of noise – bells, recorded message inside etc. – because sometimes these children have to hide and if the teddy bear makes a noise that can have catastrophic consequences. Just soft, cuddly friendly teddy bears that can do such an important job. And they need to be clean and in good condition.
Other bears such as old bears, artist bears, Steiff limited editions, Charlie Bears and other collectable bears can be donated, due to the value and in some cases safety issues, these cannot be used as gifts but still raise funds by being sold at auction to help with finances… mainly shipping costs.
The Teddy Trust has worked with Vectis during this period to sell collectable bears kindly donated to raise much needed funds. This partnership has proved extremely successful and Vectis will be offering more of them at another auction soon.
