Charity Work
'Teddies for Tragedies'
I was Queensferry Co-Ordinator for Teddies for Tragedies for 10 years! These special teddies were knitting by caring volunteers and they are sent by to places such as Malawi, Mexico, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Syria, and Syrian refugee camps in other countries.
Blankets hats/scarves etc were also made and these are sent by Blythswood Care in Glasgow to Eastern Europe, to orphanages, hospitals and refugee camps.
It is now April 2022! A lot has happened since my last post here! In December last year I retired as Co-Ordinator for Teddies for Tragedies after 10 very busy years. The main reason being the Covid Pandemic which made it extremely difficult for charities to get items into other countries. This meant charities collecting here had a huge backlog and were unable to take in donations. As I have no storage space and relied on a neighbours help by allowing me to store some in her garage, I felt I could not continue. Had I known what was around the corner with Ukrain it may have been a different story. However I am proud that in my time I have sent over 10,000 teddies and over 10,000 other items to help children around the world. I live in hope someone will come along and say they will continue this initiative started by Queensferry Guild in 1999.
I can't believe I have added nothing since 2013 and it is now 2020! All I can say it has been a very busy 7 years. My lovely volunteers have brought smiles to over 8,500 children since 1999 when Queensferry Guild first became involved in this initiative. We no longer send teddies to Malawi, but have sent teddies to places such as Chernobyl, Nepal, Mexico, Syria, Eastern Europe, and Haiti, using many different charities. In addition 3,000 teddies have been sent to Syria since May 2019, donated to us by another charity, who could not use them.
It's not only teddies we find homes for, it's blankets, hats scarves and mitts. Most of those go to Blythswood Care in Glasgow and they are added to the Christmas Shoe boxes donated by many caring people. In Christmas 1998, for example, Blythswood Care handed out 107,003 shoe boxes to families across 8 countries in Eastern Europe. Sadly the Corona Virus has stopped all help to these children. Hopefully it will not be too long before things start moving again.
Update Nocvember 2020, I have now sent a total of 6,00 teddies to children in Syria from the other charity who could not use them!
It's not only teddies we find homes for, it's blankets, hats scarves and mitts. Most of those go to Blythswood Care in Glasgow and they are added to the Christmas Shoe boxes donated by many caring people. In Christmas 1998, for example, Blythswood Care handed out 107,003 shoe boxes to families across 8 countries in Eastern Europe. Sadly the Corona Virus has stopped all help to these children. Hopefully it will not be too long before things start moving again.
Update Nocvember 2020, I have now sent a total of 6,00 teddies to children in Syria from the other charity who could not use them!
2013, Queensferry Parish Church, Special Teddy Blessing Service, before the teddies set off on their mission of love and comfort for the children of Malawi.
Read more in Claire Bear's Blog at 'Teddies for Tragedies' link above.
Read more in Claire Bear's Blog at 'Teddies for Tragedies' link above.