April 24, 2018
Quinita Thomas
Nursing students made a difference in the Colorado Springs community in a unique way last month: teddy bears.
The Beth-El Student Nurses’ Association donated 179 bears to children at UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central and Penrose Saint Francis Hospital on March 21. Build-A-Bear Workshop provided the bears.
The Build-A-Bear drive is an annual event that occurs every spring, according to senior nursing major Katherine Moore. This is the sixth year that the Student Nursing Organization has held the event.
“We raise funds and invite the community to go to the Build-A-bear Workshop at the Chapel Hills Mall. All those bears that are made and donated to us are then donated to hospitals around Colorado Springs,” said Moore.
“The way the bears work is they’re given to the hospital, and when a child is having a bad day, or they’re going through a stressful procedure, they get a bear. Just to know that we have done so much to comfort them, in just this small way is a way to give back. It feels pretty rewarding.”
According to Deborah Pollard, chair of the Nursing Department, the organization does many service projects in the community.
“They give back a lot. There’s a sense of working with children and giving back too. I think they see this as a very important project to provide children in need, who are in hospitals,” she said.
Students, faculty and staff members were invited to make a bear and donate them to the program. This event was also open to the Colorado Springs community. Moore said that she received an email from a family in the Springs, who said they were excited to attend.
“One of our students on the board completed their senior class in the emergency room. They saw one of the bears being handed out, and she said that it was one of the most rewarding things she’s ever seen,” Moore said.
The number of bears donated depends on how many people go to Build-A-Bear to make one.
“We’ve had anywhere from 140 to 210 bears in the past,” said Moore. “We send out flyers and let everyone know. If you’re walking by and plan to come, just walk into the store, build a bear and give it to us.”
The association is solely based on donations. Aside from tabling on and off campus, they also do fundraisers in anyway they can. All the money the students receive is then put towards all the bears.
“It’s a way to give back, especially for our nursing students,” Moore said. “We spend so much time in the hospitals, and we spend a lot of time with families.”
For more information on the Beth-El Student Nurses’ Association, visit their Mountain Lion Connect at orgsync.com/73923/chapter.