A COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT
In memory of Heather Hemenway, daughter of Psi Beta Alumna Arleen Wood
The National Council supported the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future through a three-year commitment, 1997-2000, to “help create conditions for the success of American youth.” The council encourages chapters to continue to participate in this community service project, or their own versions, which places thousands of new teddy bears into the arms of traumatized children. (One chapter collected baseball caps for children undergoing chemotherapy. Another chapter collected a variety of stuffed animals.)
The purpose of the project is to:
- express love, hope, kindness, compassion, and tenderness symbolized by teddy bears distributed to traumatically ill children of ages up to 18 years old in emergency situations,
- encourage all Psi Beta members to participate by contributing their unique talents, and
- encourage the terminally ill or traumatically injured children to communicate with their families and caretakers about their feelings and the psychodynamics of trauma, death and dying through the use of an object, the teddy bear.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT THE PROJECT
- Psi Beta chapter members and faculty advisor vote to approve participation, then select dates and drop-off locations for holding the Follow college procedures for receiving administrative approval.
- Contact public relations of nonprofit facilities/services dealing in emergency traumatic situations with children of ages up to 18 years old to enthuse and arrange the approval, the number of teddy bears wanted, and a procedure for the delivery and distribution of the new teddy
- Set a goal for the number of new (never used) teddy bears the chapter aims to collect or purchase from cash contributions in the drive, based on the numbers suggested by the facilities/services accepting the donations.
- Send news releases and arrange special publicity with local, college and hospital newspapers and television and radio stations. Send flyers for display to businesses, organizations, schools and associations.
- Involve the entire Psi Beta campus by publicizing, displaying exhibits about teddy bears and inviting other student organizations to
- Schedule students to regularly collect, count and store or deliver the new teddy These students report to one member responsible for keeping the total count.
- Deliver the new bears to designated facilities as Arrange publicity for this event. Please send photographs of chapter members collecting and delivering bears to Psi Beta for a scrapbook and to publish in the newsletter.
- Report the tally of bears collected and distributed in your chapter excellence application.
