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OREM — Walking through the streets of an Orem neighborhood, you can see animals in the windows of townhomes and on the balconies of condos and apartment complexes. There’s an elephant, a tiger, and a dragon on one window sill, an armadillo and a cat on another.
In 8-year-old Lea Amstadt’s window, a flamingo, a pig, a leopard, a unicorn, an owl, a dragon, bunnies, bears and cats are all lined up in an unconventional but harmonious row, facing the street with word bubbles above their heads.
"Look around at this amazing world," the polar bear says.
"You are generous," the leopard says.
"Be amazing," the unicorn says.
This myriad of stuffed creatures belongs to a neighborhood-wide effort to create a stuffed animal safari to give the kids something safe to do outside while social distancing. They serve as a reminder of a connected community, even during a nationwide quarantine for the coronavirus pandemic.
Shelby Van Ommeren heard a coworker mention a teddy bear hunt, an idea spreading throughout neighborhoods in the United States where people put bears in their windows for children to spot.
Van Ommeren thought of her daughter’s diverse collection of stuffed animals from around the world and expanded the idea into an entire stuffed animal safari, with a list of as many animals she could think of for the kids to look for during their search.
Soon the whole neighborhood got involved, including residents who did not have children of their own.
"As bad as the situation is right now, people are yearning to be with each other and want interaction. This was a fun way to get that," Van Ommeren said.
"It was just so nice to see so many people stepping up and helping each other," Lea’s mother Beth Amstadt said. "As a parent, I want to make this memorable for the kids in a positive way. To have the community step up to and share their ideas is such a good experience for my kids."
Correction: A previous version misspelled the last name of Beth and Lea Amstadt as Armstadt.
