From November 1 to December 6, 2019, Fairfield’s Student Alumni Association coordinated the Teddy Bears with Love drive, partnering with alumni, parents, and friends to collect and donate more than 1,400 teddy bears and stuffed animals to children’s hospitals and charities throughout the country.
Alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends, brought joy to lots of children and their families during the holiday season by participating in the Teddy Bears with Love drive, coordinated by Fairfield’s Student Alumni Association (SAA). This year, the SAA and Office of Alumni Relations have much to celebrate after collecting and distributing more than 1,400 teddy bears and stuffed animals to children’s hospitals and charities across the country. Over the drive’s 21-year history, over 25,000 stuffed animals have been collected and donated.
From November 1 to December 6, 2019, the Fairfield community organized several events, both on campus and in cities throughout the country, to collect teddy bears and stuffed animals for donation to children’s hospitals and charities not only in Connecticut but across the nation.
“Teddy Bears with Love successfully collected 1,416 stuffed animals for pediatric patients at local hospitals and charities,” said Chloe Stokinger ’22, director of community service for the SAA and director of the Teddy Bears with Love drive. “We collected donations and bears in the lobby of the DiMenna–Nyselius Library and in the Barone Campus Center. We also ‘dorm stormed’ the first-year students’ quad and collected donations, and, on December 8, there was even a Teddy Bear Toss at halftime during the Fairfield Men's Basketball game at Alumni Hall.”
These on-campus events, along with eight alumni chapter events in cities like Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New Jersey, and partnerships with local organizations like Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Holly Hill Childcare and Learning Center in Orange, Conn., all contributed to the success of this year's Teddy Bears with Love drive.
Thanks to the generous Fairfield community, stuffed animals were donated to such organizations as Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Toys for Tots in Washington, D.C., Hour Children in New York, Catholic Charities of Chicago, Overlook Hospital in New Jersey, The Joseph Fund in Philadelphia, and more. “On behalf of the Student Alumni Association, we thank everyone for their support to make this event a success year after year, and for brightening a child and their family’s lives during Christmastime,” said Ms. Stokinger.
For more information about Fairfield’s Teddy Bears with Love drive, please visit fairfield.edu/teddybears.
