Liberty University
Spring 2010 was our second annual Teddy Bear Drive, our most unifying event for ALD as we reached out and involved our university family. In March, 2010, we placed boxes for teddy bear collection around the campus. At the end of the three-day collection period, we collected all the teddy bears and donated them to the Virginia Baptist Hospital Children's Ward.
Our first year (Spring 2009), we collected and delivered 275 teddy bears/stuffed animals and this past Spring 2010, we collected and delivered 410, receiving donations not just from resident ALD members and students, but also from Distance Learning Program students who contacted us expressing their desire to participate in this worthy cause.
One Distance Learning ALD Member wrote…”My daughter has been to the children's part of Virginia Baptist Hospital and we were so amazed at how awesome that hospital really is to the children. She received a small blue teddy bear while we were there, and to this day she still has to sleep with him. It really did help calm her down when she saw the nurse bring her a teddy bear, and I would really like to help share that feeling with other children and their parents”. This parent challenged her Church Youth Group to donate animals for this cause, donating 38 stuffed animals last year and over 100 this year. This is an event that has been loved by all involved, especially the Children's Ward at Virginia Baptist Hospital, and we hope this will become an annual ALD tradition.
