Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
AMERICAN FORK — On Friday, the Bank of American Fork presented over 8,200 teddy bears and other stuffed animals to four family support centers in Salt Lake and Davis counties as part of the bank's 13th annual Project Teddy Bear.
The stuffed animals were donated by customers and community members to benefit children who have been abused, are at risk of being abused or have experienced other traumatic situations. The children will receive the stuffed animals as Christmas gifts or will use them in play therapy.
Several community members went above and beyond to gather a mass amount of the donated teddy bears. 11-year-old Abigail Krane and fellow girl scout, 13-year-old Catja Buchanan created a Youtube video to help them collect 505 stuffed animals.
Several schools also headed up the bear-collecting effort. The Spanish Fork High School Letterman's Club enlisted the efforts of Brockbank Elementary and Canyon Elementary in collecting 1,452 of the 1,777 bears that were collected in Spanish Fork.
Crescent Elementary student, Keenan Davis, collected over 606 stuffed animals. Davis said that he was glad to share the stuffed animals with kids that don't otherwise feel "good things" from adults.
"The way the community has been involved and gone the extra mile to donate teddy bears to children in need is gratifying," said President and CEO of American Fork Bank, Richard Beard. "They share with Bank of American Fork a commitment to local communities and to the greatest asset in those communities: the children. It is a wonderful outpouring of concern and love."
