Hugs Across America Patch Program

Requirements:

1. Brainstorm with your parents, leaders or friends about what a “crisis” for a child might be.

2. Watch TV news for 1 week – document circumstances in which children might be in crisis.

3. Read local news daily for 1 week and cut out articles in which children might be in crisis.

4. Write a paragraph or talk about how children in crisis might feel, use examples from your research.

5. Think about your own experience and write or tell a friend about how your teddy helped you when you were scared or sad.

6. Find out what organizations in your community would help children who are hurting, frightened or are in an emergency situation.

Examples: Fire Dept/ Police Dept/County Sheriff/Ambulance Service, Hospital, Grief Counseling Center, Family Court, American Red Cross, temporary shelters etc.

7. Draw a map of your community locating these places.

8. Decide how and where you will collect teddy bears to comfort children in crisis. The bears have to be new, 9″- 14″ in size for good hugging and not fancy…just a comfort bear.

9. Design/create signs/flyers to request for bears.

10. Talk to your church, school, local businesses or neighbors about joining your effort.

11. Design/make collection boxes (large enough for a bunch of teddies) for each group that wishes to help.

12. Hand out flyers about your project.

13. When bears are collected, write out tags with messages of “concern and hope” and place one around each teddy’s neck with ribbon or yearn.

14. Deliver bears to agency that you or your troop decides to support.

15. Take pictures of your effort and write a news article to be submitted to your local paper and to Hugs Across America for your Chapter website.

16. Research and find out what other agency/profession uses bears to help children.

17. Research and find out what other age group, other than children, can benefit from “bear hugs”.

18. Read the book T. Bear’s Tale by Sue Lucarelli

Resources:

Newspapers

Yellow pages

Maps

Internet Websites

Supplies needed for tagging bears:

Heavy paper (card stock) to print out tags

Ribbon or yearn

Paper punch

Scissors

Supplies needed for bagging bears:

Clear plastic bags – that will carry 10 teddies (It is easier to count the bears if they are in bags of ten …they also take up less space than in boxes.)

To earn a patch: Daisies: Pick 5, Brownies: Pick 6, Juniors: Pick 7, Cadettes: Pick 8, Seniors and Ambassadors: Pick 9

For more information and patches, please contact:

Bear Hugs R Best,

Greater Los Angeles, California Chapter

bearhugsrbest@gmail.com