Jacob’s Hugs
Minden, LA

Jakki Hatchett

January 2008 Report by Jakki:

Hi All!

This is an update on how Hugs is doing in Minden, Louisiana. Jacob's Hugs had its first teddy bear drive on November 10, 2007, at WalMart in Minden. We did great! We were able to collect over 40 bears. I had a lot of great help. Our team included, Amanda Adkins, Samantha Sistrunk, Hunter Sistrunk, Hailey Parks, Cam Owen, and myself.

Then in December, Hillcrest Elementary School in Ruston, Louisiana conducted a teddy bear drive for us. They collected over 240 bears! And what is even more wonderful than that, is they also made several tags for the bears they collected and then some! I want to thank Principal Patrice Hay for conducting this drive and I would also like to thank 3rd grade teacher (and my best buddy) Lisa Harris for bringing our cause to Hillcrest and of course I want to thank all of the children at Hillcrest. I am so impressed by their dedication and hard work. I could never thank them enough. They have touched the lives of a lot of other children in such a positive and loving way.

I was able to drop off bags of bears off with social services, several different ambulance companies, the police station and the hospital in Minden. I also have bags to take to Ruston and drop off at various organizations there.

I am trying to plan another drive in Minden soon. I will update you as soon as I have more information.

Hugs to all,
Jakki Hatchett

October 2007 Report by Jakki:

The Minden chapter is being called, "Jacob's Hugs". I have a big teddy bear drive coming up Nov. 10th. Our new Chapter is eager to begin working with Rescue and recovery organizations and we have made many contacts with rescue organizations in our area. They are very happy to receive and distribute the teddy bears to children that they see in traumatic situations.

I also have a 3rd grade class that has adopted us and are going to write all of the messages on our tags. I am very excited about this project and will do my best to inspire others to start local chapters in their own cities.