“I thought of you last night…it took me 3 and 1/2 hours to get home during the ice storm with the Severn River Bridge closed down. I worked an extra shift Tuesday to just
help out…well…I stopped dead near the Mall/Parole exit for 3 hours!!! Two cars behind me, a mom and her 2 little girls, slid on the ice. Their vehicle went under a truck.
Mom was pinned in and had injuries, one little girl had an asthma attack, they both were crying desperately. Well, I called EMS 3 times and it took 45 minutes to get 2
ambulances driving in the wrong direction on the shoulder to get to us. At one point I was on the phone with EMS and telling them I felt like the lone ranger out there and
needed help. Then you came to my mind and I realized I had 2 teddy bears in the car…a flash of you with Hugs Across America…I nearly hung up on EMS but not till I told
them…get me help out here…all I have are 2 blankets, a first aid kit, found an inhaler for the child having an asthma attack, and, oh yes, 2 teddy bears….I ran to the car
under the truck and gave those 2 little girls the bears…they smiled bigger than life and tears abated! … they were still clinging to those teddies when they went into the
ambulance!
Please Sue, know that your bears are touching lives out here.
“After this experience, I will never be without bears again. ”
(from a nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland)
Our family just got home after an emotional morning at our church, First Baptist Church of Maryville. How wonderful to meet as a church family and proceed with God’s calling on our lives. As I picked up my preschool son, what a treat to discover that he had been given ‘a bear to hug while Jesus heals’. You know, I think the adults in our home will need that bear, too.
I also teach at our church’s school, Maryville Christian School, and there are going to be hundreds of children and parents who will need hugs throughout our first day back as a school tomorrow. I will be bringing the bear to school with me. Thank you for your ministry. Our family has donated stuffed bears to a child agency in the past, and we are also glad to offer comfort to children we will never meet. I never expected my child to become the recipient of such a bear. God is good-and He is in control, just as He has always been and always will be. God’s peace to you.