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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Bear Patrol: Casa di Mir students school show off bears they collected for police. Officers keep the bears in their patrol cars and pass them out to kids in traumatic situations like fires or car crashes.
Students round up bears for police
By Melissa Matchak
Thanks to the sixth-grade students at Casa di Mir, members of the Campbell Police Department will now have a collection of teddy bears to hand out to kids in crisis.
The 10 sixth-year students at Casa di Mir Montessori Elementary School decided to collect teddy bears for their community project, and donated close to 80 bears to the Campbell Police Department on Dec. 14.
Susan Harvell, this year's advisor for the community project, said the bears are kept in the trunks of police cars and given to children who have experienced a difficult situation, including having been in an accident, experiencing a fire in their home, getting lost while shopping with a parent, or are having an emotionally difficult time at home or school.
The idea to collect teddy bears came from one of the students, who read a newspaper article about another police department that carries bears in the trunks of patrol cars for the same purpose, according to Harvell.
Harvell said the students stood outside the school each morning where parents drop off their children to collect bears. A flier detailing the teddy bear drive was also sent to all the families at Casa di Mir. She said their goal was to collect 50 bears, and after a week and a half, they had 77.
Harvell said the support from the parents and community has been great.
She said the students also started a "snack shack" for the after-school day care. Half the money raised from that was used to purchase 11 bears for the drive.
Harvell said the students plan to spend half the money they raise this year on a trip for their class. In addition to the bear drive, the students have collected five barrels of food for donation to Second Harvest Food Bank.
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Campbell, California
