“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)
Tracy Taplin, Maryville, IL
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.