Pat and Michael Wolf haven't put a car in their garage lately because it's been filled with boxes of little stuffed bears. They were collected by their 9-year-old daughter Courtney for children in Haiti.
"She said, 'Mommy and Daddy, you know how when I'm sick or afraid, I like my teddy bears," Michael said.
So Courtney Wolf set out on a mission. Touched by images of Haitian children after the earthquake, the third graders from Northfield Community School collected 3,600 teddy bears. Donations came in from her school, church and businesses. She calls her campaign Hugs 4 Haiti
"When I saw the news clips about Haiti and thought I would just like to go there and tell them they're loved," Courtney said.
Courtney was at the UPS operating center in Pleasantville today as the boxes containing the first 1,500 teddy bears were readied for shipping first to Miami and then by cargo plane to Haiti
Courtney met Assistant Pastor Russ Sterger from Calvary Chapel in Vineland. He's been to Haiti twice since the quake and will be there when this shipment of stuffed animals arrives in Port au Prince next week. He'll give them out at hospitals, orphanages, and tent cities.
"We were there right after the quake and we took a couple of the bears with us and gave them to the kids and they were so traumatized they loved them and just held them," Sterger said.
Courtney says she will continue her effort to collect teddy bears; she says it would be nice if every child in Haiti had one with her love and a hug.
