Charities accept teddy bears

[TeddyAndPencil]

Hi, bears.
I was wondering if any of you know any charity organizations in Europe who accept teddy bear donations. I mean, not only money, but also so called "used bears". (I don't like this expression...)
Some of our friends keep rescuing abandoned teddy bears and animal toys, and they'd really love to donate those bears to children in need but we haven't got a clue...
Any suggestions??

[Daz]

What a nice though. There are so many people out there that would appreciate a teddy bear in a time of need. After reading your post I tried to do a little research online to see if I could find somewhere for you and your friends to donate your bears. I could not find any specific organisations based in Europe, but I know in the UK you can take your bears to your local charity shops, and they should be happy to take them from you. This is a good link for people in the UK to find local shops in their area. http://www.charityshops.org.uk/ There must be charity shops in most countries around Europe also that would accept them.

Another idea I found on a couple of forums would be to take the bears to your local police station or fire station. Apparently they are happy to take them because a teddy bear can be a comfort for children in times of distress, and they use them to give to kids during these times. For a child who has lost their possesion in a fire, this might just help to ease the stress of the whole ordeal.

At the moment The Bear Club are trying to organise a national campaign in the UK to work with as many charities as possible to try to find homes for many 'used' teddy bears. We want to encourage members of the public to donate their bears to the shops to help them raise money for the charities, and also bring some joy to a new owner. We will have more news of this soon.

I hope this was useful to you.

[TeddyAndPencil]

Thanks for the information, Daz.
We are going to look into some charity shops and plice & fire stations. It would be really nice if those children could find a furry company... and for those teddy bears to find a new companion as well.

2 or 3 years ago, I heard the story - I don't know if it was a true story or not - that one of the charity groups took "used" teddy bears to a hospital somewhere in the UK for the kids who were staying in the hospital during the Christmas time, and the hospital refused to accept them.

I sincerely hope that the Bear Club's campaign draw some attention to the "used teddy bear" matter :-)

[Daz]

Hope you can find homes for your bears. It's a lovely idea. I hope we can encourage as many people as possible to donate their bears to charities to bring a little relief to people in need.

It would be unfortunate if the story about thew hospital refusing the bears was true. The only reason I could think why that might happen would maybe be because of the condition of the bears donated. I suppose they do need to be in fairly good condition for them to be passed on to children in a hospital. Lets hope it's just an urban myth.

[charliebear]

i cant donate my bears cause i live in iran and iran dosnt have any of these programs