VIDEO: Teddies to help comfort children
PARKTOWN- The Teddy Bear Clinic recently received teddy bear donations from Hamleys South Africa.
The Teddy Bear Clinic for abused children in Parktown recently received 1 020 cuddly teddy bears from Hamleys South Africa, a local toy shop, to comfort abused children during their healing journey at the clinic.
Through generous donations from their customers, Hamleys and its #HamleysBBFF (Best Bear Friends Forever) campaign’s first official charitable undertaking was run during December last year and was a success.
Customers were asked to donate teddy bears and place them into a giant wire teddy bear, which was situated at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton. “This is an amazing donation, this ensures the companionship of a cuddly toy for the children at the clinic and we are so happy about it,” said Dalene Bishop, the Teddy Bear Clinic donor liaison officer.
“Hamleys South Africa loves to hug and cuddle so we were so happy to give over 1 000 children a chance to cuddle. These children just need that little bit of extra attention. Abused children are not going away, abuse is not a holiday thing, that is why we have planned to host more drives in the future to collect new or used cuddly bears,” said Leanne Lombard, marketing manager of Hamleys.
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Established 30 years ago, the Teddy Bear Clinic aims to minimise secondary harm to children and their families when entering the child protection system by providing multidisciplinary expertise, information and support in order to make their journey a healing one.
“The clinic’s aim is to create a shift from victim to resilience and hope, where victims are enabled to become champions,” said Dr Shaheda Omar, director of Parktown Teddy Bear.
“We are thrilled that Hamleys chose us to be the recipient of these teddies and we know they will definitely make a big difference to the children that we deal with.”
Henni Stander from Onnist Advertising Agency, who helped with the donations, explained that every child needs a teddy bear and that it is a great gift to give because a child never runs out of hugs.
Hamleys will host another teddy bear drive at Eastgate Shopping Centre from 25 February to 31 March. Community members can donate old or new teddy bears at the centre and place them into the big bear branded with Hamleys’ logos.
Details: www.ttbc.org.za
