Woodmen of the World Disaster Team
South East Region
Conyers, GA

Contact: Jane Pagliaro

June 2009 update:

Ted’s daughter Jane Pagliaro has assumed some of the responsibility for Hugs in the Conyers/Covington area of Georgia.  Ted continues to wish Hugs through his daughter who continues to have “Teddies at the ready” to meet the needs of those in crisis.  As has been the case in the past this chapter responds to as many natural disasters as is possible, providing teddies to shelters that arise after floods, hurricanes or tornadoes.  We will keep Ted in our thoughts and prayers.

Ted Church – Director

Ted has spearheaded some remarkable efforts, delivering teddy bears to children in the shelters and torn up sections and back woods of Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida during the aftermath of Katrina, Rita and Wilma. He and his wife Peggy, whom we sorely miss, drove from Georgia to Michigan to pick up 4,000 teddy bears and then back down to the Mobile area to deliver them. Their hearts are strong and sure in the notion that comforting children in crisis is a blessing.  Peggy passed away in September after a short battle with pancreatic cancer and we honor her memory.

In addition to the response to hurricanes in the Gulf area, Ted and the Woodmen rushed to provide over 900 bears to the children in Lee, Virginia whose classmates were killed in a tragic bus accident. When a need arises, Ted and the Woodmen are available. Fort Gordon, in Georgia needed a quick supply of 125 teddies for children of deploying soldiers and within two days the bears were readied and delivered.

It makes a BIG difference.