#PowerOfATeddy - Now, Really?

There's no such thing as "too old" for a teddy!

When you were a child, did you also have that special teddy?

That one teddy - out of many that you might have owned - that would rest in your arms as you drifted off to sleep? The teddy that got your smell, that slowly looked well-loved over the nights it spent in your arms: the good nights, the scary nights, and even just the regular one-of-many nights. As you grew older, you might not have remained as bonded to it, but it was still there: ready to be hugged if you needed it. Then maybe one day it was left behind in a basket, a closet, where it would spend the rest of its time, its mission accomplished, taken out once in a while in moments of nostalgia to hold, to smell, and to remember the comfort and security it has always brought you.

Nearly all of us grew up with that one special teddy. It is a sign of our childhood, our naïveté and need for comfort.

Since NuDay's formal inception, teddy bears and stuffed animals have been high on our list of needs when people ask us what they can collect for our NuDay containers. Yes, stuffed teddies - bring 'em all! The well-loved ones, the new ones, the less than perfect ones, and the still stiff ones. We will happily and gratefully take them all, pack them into bags and boxes and send them off on one of our many containers to Northwestern Syria, where they arrive in Idlib and are gifted to eager children. Children who have lost so much, who have experienced more loss than any of us can comprehend. Witnessed atrocities and human suffering that go well beyond anyone's comprehension.

Yet, children need to heal.

They need to retain hope, to wake up each morning with a less heavy weight, with more joy and energy.

Teddy bears make that a possibility.

Stuffed animals provide the same love, the same comfort, the same sense of safety and glimpse of careless childhood that we each experienced. Even if you are a child in Syria - perhaps especially if you are a child in Syria. That, dear friends, is the #PowerOfATeddy. It is a strong, warm, and fuzzy bond, and it is there to last.