Life indeed does sometimes take you to a dark side, where it can be dark and scarey and unfamiliar for an adult let alone an innocent child. A quote from generous lady with a big heart who does emergency foster care “sometimes they are so afraid… they just want and need to be held”  that pierced my heart and put an urgency in me to put my knitting to the best use possible. A smile on a hurting childs face, or a hug from a bear held close when they feel so alone, something to hug in a cold dark unfamiliar room.
The National Committee of Grandparents for Children’s Rights is sponsoring this project ...our bears made by generous kind hearted members of Dont be afraid...I am here bears Yahoo and Ravelry group and will be given to Child Protection Services case workers from the Department of Social Services in Nassau County as they go to remove one of these precious babies from most likely the only home they have ever known, will be put in safe houses and given out by the Coalition against Domestic Violence In Nassau County, will be distribued to sexually and physically abused children by the Coalition against Child abuse and Neglect in Nassau County and given to children who come into  the Child Advocacy Center in Central Islip, New York. The children will be given a bear to hold onto at this probably the most scarey and confusing time of their lives to calm their fears and become a trusted sacred friend who listens to all the saddness of their hearts. 
But we need an ongoing supply of bears for these precious children. Knitted, crocheted, sewn whatever is your speciality. The only stipulation I have is that the Bear be smiling. Will you help me make a bear or 2 or 3 with a smile to be the hope and strength for one of these overburdened children.. something no child should ever have to go through..                                                                        If anyone’s heart is touched as mine was by this very real need of our children today and would like to be part of it with me.. Please join and help us give a smile to a hurting child
Thank you.

So thats basically what this is about.. providing a bear for a scared child. We need to take care of "our" children and they all are "our" children. I cannot even comprehend the horrors they must experience at such an early age.. Today the need is great.. as more and more children are experiencing these horrors..Come join us.. put your talents to work.. create something that will one day be sitting on a dresser in a place of honor because at the most scariest time of their lives they had a smiling bear because of you..

thank you so very much

 

We have come together, kind hearted generous creative bear making women all over the world, The National Committee of Grandparents for Childrens Rights, Nassau County DSS, Child Protection Services case workers, members of the Coalition against Domestic Violence, Coalition against child absuse and neglect and the Childrens Advocacy Center to create and distribute hand made bears for traumatized children who have to removed from their homes and people they love, have been abused and neglected or have experienced domestic violence.  Bears to ease their fears and give them something familiar and comforting to hold on to at these very difficult times.