Woman Sends Teddies to Children in Need

Charity News Online

Next July a hundred of teddy bears are scheduled to fly to India. A teacher will distribute them among local children, with best regards from a woman, whom most likely they will never meet.

The woman who sends teddy bears to deprived children in developing countries has so far this year sent hundreds of toys around the world. Tricia Gibb, 56, a retired NHS hospital secretary from St Albans, UK, started sending the toys with a group of friends six years ago after hearing about the idea through a minister at her church.

About 30 of her friends stitch the soft bears before they are given to people they know who are visiting a country where children are in need. "In some ways the teddy bears do just as much good as medicine,” Tricia says.

March saw 400 of the soft toys sent to orphanages in Zambia, in April a nurse took 50 of the bears to Kashmir for children affected by the Asian earthquake last October, and, in July, 100 will go with a teacher to India.