Teddy Bears with Love
Fairfield University
Alumni Service Project
2009
Information Packet
As of: 11/10/2009
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WHAT is Teddy Bears with Love?
Teddy Bears with Love started in 1999 as a way to bring holiday cheer to children in need in the Fairfield, CT
area. Since then, it has occurred annually and has collected thousands of teddy bears that have been donated to
children all across the country. The all-time collection high was reached in December 2008 when we collected
1,555 bears and delivered them to the largest amount of charities to date! 2008 also served as the first year that
our Regional Alumni Chapters held collection drives in their respective areas – collecting over 600 bears in 6
cities. As we look to celebrate or 10th Anniversary in 2009, we need your help to reach a new bear record.
Our Student Alumni Association here on campus is the main driving force behind Teddy Bears with Love and
they’re really excited to work with you on this award-winning program. In 2008, Teddy Bears with Love was
selected one of the recipients of the CASE: ASAP (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education:
Affiliated Student Advancement Programs) District 1 Outstanding External Program Award. Teddy Bears with
Love was also nominated for this award on the National Level in summer 2008. Teddy Bears with Love was
also nominated for a 2008 Connecticut Higher Education Awards as Best Group Community Service.
While we are extremely proud that so many organizations throughout Connecticut have been a part of our
program, we would love to continue extend our “bear hugs” to children in need throughout the country. By
serving as a “Satellite Bear Drive” location, you can ensure that children in your area get the same big “hug”
during the holiday season while spreading your Stag Pride at the same time!
Since its inception, charities which have benefitted from donated bears include:
Connecticut Children’s Medical Center of Hartford, Connecticut
Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital of New Haven, Connecticut
Make-A-Wish Foundation of Connecticut
St. Jude’s Hands Reaching Out Center of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Action Bridgeport Community Development (ABCD) of Bridgeport, Connecticut
St. Vincent’s Medical Center of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport Hospital of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Reaching All In Need Everyday (RAINE) of New Jersey
Cardinal Sheehan Center of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Honeybear Learning Center of Stratford, Connecticut
Holy Name of Jesus After-School Program of Stratford, Connecticut
Montefiore Hospital of Bronx, NY
Children’s Hospital Boston of Boston, Mass.
African Community Center of Denver, Col.
Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago, IL
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite of Atlanta, GA
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Foundation of Newark, NJ
WHO is SAA?
SAA is the Student Alumni Association here at Fairfield. They are the student organization of the Alumni
Association combine of nearly 60 members, ranging from freshmen to seniors. They practice under the mission
statement of “bridging the gap between students and alumni.” Throughout the year they plan events that bring
together alumni and current students in a variety of outlets such as social, networking, educational, and service.
Teddy Bears with Love is the biggest student-alumni event we have and we’re so excited to see that it just keeps
growing!
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WHAT is My Role as a Chapter Contact?
As our Fairfield University Chapter Contacts, you will be helping out the Teddy Bears with Love Drive even
further by encouraging alumni in your area to donate bears directly to you! These bears will be included in our
final totals and but will be distributed to the Chapter’s charity of choice in their area. Here’s what your
responsibilities are:
Agree to have your name and e-mail address listed on our Teddy Bears with Love website
Select a local hospital/children’s charity in your area to serve as your drop-off point
Work with your Student Alumni Association liaison to find a day to serve as your deadline and
delivery date with your charity
Answer any emails that may be sent to you by alumni in the area and provide them with your
address to send their bears to you
Put a “From Fairfield with Love” wristband on all your bears before delivery
Invite them to come with you to drop-off the bears
Keep track your total number collected. Be sure to get their name, class year, e-mail, and home
address
Send along this information at the end of your drive to your SAA liaison
HOW Do I Run a Teddy Bears with Love Collection?
Running your own drive is an extremely easy and fun way to help those in need during the holidays. Below is
an abridged version of our master timeline that we feel will help you in planning your drive.
Each drive will take approximately 6 weeks from kick-off to delivery. Please plan accordingly!
November
 Officially kick-start your collection on November 2
 Determine which charity in your area you would like to donate to (a local Children’s Charity,
Children’s Hospital, Hospital, etc.)
 Contact the Student Alumni Association to get assigned a Teddy Bears with Love liaison (contact
information located at the end of the packet). Tell them the name of your organization to which you
hope to donate. They will contact them to arrange a drop-off time and get an update on their
estimated “bear need”
 Start Collecting! You can use upcoming area events or when contacted directly, provide your home
address so that alumni can mail the bears directly to you, or set-up your own drop-off event
o Decide if you want to plan a “teddy bear collection” event independent of our current event
schedule in your area. Let your liaison know if you’re interested and they’ll get an Alumni
Relations staff member to help (see: What is the best way to collect all these bears?)
 Set aside space in a predetermined location to keep all of the bears
 Send updates to your Teddy Bear liaison back at Fairfield! Be sure to ask for their help if you need
it!
December
 Conclude your teddy bear drive on December 11
 Be sure to work with your Bear Liaison to determine which of the dates they gave you is best for you
to drop-off the bears
o They will contact your charity to finalize a date
 Be sure to keep track of the names of everyone who donates
o Get first and last name, graduation year, and home address
 Get ready to do the final bear count
o Count and put a “With Love From Fairfield wristband” on each bear (will be mailed to you
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prior to the last week of the drive)
o Place them into economy sized plastic garbage bags (best for delivering the bears)
Put to the side bears that are already “loved” and contact your local Salvation Army or other such
location to drop-off
If you find yourself in need of assistance regarding dropping off your bears and/or are in a
state with multiple collections that are to be combined, contact your Liaison prior to December
7 to finalize details.
Drop off all of your bears prior to Christmas! (All drop-dates are planned for the week of
December 14-18 unless otherwise specified).
Be sure to take pictures!
Your Bear Liaison will be in touch with you at the conclusion of your drive to get the following
information: total number of bears collected, master list of names, photos
Post-Event
 When our Student Alumni Association members return from semester break, they will send a thankyou postcard to each person who donated a bear (this is why collecting names and addresses of all
who donate is so important!)
 The name of each person who donated to the Teddy Bears with Love Drive will be listed on the
Teddy Bears with Love page on the Alumni Web site along with the name of the charity to which
the bears are donated.
 Photos submitted by you will also be posted online.
WHO is my Teddy Bear Liaison?
As we have not yet declared our Teddy Bears with Love Chairs for our 2009 drive, simply e-mail SAA
and one will be assigned to you. All of our SAA members are “bear certified” so you’re sure to be in good
hands. Email [email protected] to get in touch and place “Teddy Bears 2009” in your subject line or
call the Office of Alumni Relations at (203) 254-4280.
WHAT is the Best Way to Collect All These Bears?
While your name and e-mail address will be listed on our website for donors to contact you directly to
coordinate a delivery/drop-off, we encourage our regional chapter teddy bear contacts to plan a regional dropoff event to serve as a collection point for their drive.
In addition to collecting at an official Regional Chapter Alumni Event, many areas host an informal happy hour
centered around an athletic game-watch or just after-hours in early December to kick-off the holiday season. It’s
easy to plan your gathering, and we’ll help you advertise. Here’s how to do it:
1. Pick a date and time between November 2 and December 11 to host your event (as our deadline for bear
collection in 2009 is December 11). Typically 2-hour periods between 6-9 are the most popular and
effective.
2. Determine the best location to host your event – it’s best to go central, where many of alumni can find
you easily and it’s accessible form work and/or home.
3. Contact the location to inform them of your intent to host a gathering (many will work with you to
secure drink specials, etc.)
4. Inform your Teddy Bear Liaison of the time, date, and place so that you can be added to our website’s
list of teddy bear drop-off events.
5. Work with your Chapter President and leadership team to get the word out to your local alumni. The
Office of Alumni Relations will showcase your event on the Teddy Bear Website and in the month’s
issue of E-News and/or a Teddy Bears with Love E-Blast (if applicable).
6. Encourage alumni and friends to attend and bring a bear as their “cover.”
7. Collect all bears and hold them until your drop-off date.
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8. Use the event to help secure more volunteers to help you with your bear-drop.
Teddy Bear FAQ’s
Why do we only take new Teddy Bears? We only take new Teddy Bears in our drive for many reasons:
1. For many children we help, this is the only gift they’ll receive this holiday season
2. Children who are in the hospital are not able to receive bears that may be a combination of musty,
dirty, and/or full of germs.
3. Who wants an old teddy bear anyway??
This being said, even the bears that arrive a little “pre-loved” get donated. Contact your local Salvation Army to
drop them off.
Do they have to be teddy bears? No! Even though the drive is the Teddy Bears with Love drive, we encourage
donations of all shapes and sizes. For many people, their donation reflects their personality – and we welcome
them all!
What if I have only a few large bears and the rest are small? It happens! We do our best during distribution to
give each charity an equal number of large and small bears when we deal with multiple charities, but as most of
you should only be donating to one charity, it shouldn’t matter. The charity themselves will figure out the
distribution.
Why can’t we hand-deliver the bears to the kids at the hospitals? Unfortunately, as much fun as it would be to
see that smile first-hand, many hospitals don’t allow outsiders to visit the patients due to privacy policies and
the restrictions of their pediatric floors and the patients medical problems. Trust us, they will get to the kids, all
you have to do is drop them off!
What if we only collect a small number of bears? As I’m sure the charities will tell you, no donation is too
small. We will be in contact with the charity as soon as you send their name along to us- from there we’ll
determine what their “need” is and make sure they understand that while we’ll do our best to meet it, we may
not get there. This way, there are no surprises the day of drop-off. Set a small goal to start and don’t get
discouraged! Many bears come in last minute.
What if there’s two collection points in my state? Once an additional Teddy Bear collection is set-up in your
state, your Teddy Bear liaison will be in contact with all collection sites/coordinators to help determine if
donating to one charity is the best route to take. If that is the case, they will assist you in deciding who will be
the main collection and prior to the end of the event will provide you with a way to ship your bears to the main
collection point to combine all donations.
What if I collect the bears, but have no way to drop them off? While we do encourage our alumni to personally
deliver the bears they collect, we understand that sometimes this happens. Be sure to contact your regional
chapter liaison PRIOR to December 7 so that they can work with you to come up with a solution. We will
work to get in touch with additional local alumni to coordinate a drop-date or directly with your charity to
discuss shipping options to get the bears in on time.
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Final Things to Remember:
If your charity requires you to fill out a donation drop-off form be sure to fill it out! Include Fairfield University
as the donation contact and Teddy Bears with Love as the program. Contact information should be listed as:
Student Alumni Association
Fairfield University
1073 North Benson Road
Fairfield, CT 06824
[email protected]
(203) 254-4280
Contact: Megan Hallissy ’10, SAA president
Colleen McGinn, assistant director of alumni relations/SAA advisor
Other Questions?
Have a question we didn’t answer? Need some help or advice? Feel free to contact your Teddy Bears Liaison
and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.
Thanks for helping us spread our big
“bear hugs” this holiday season!
Happy Holidays!
Good luck!
As of: 11/10/2009
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