A local nonprofit is looking to replace some very special inventory after a recent burglary left them without teddy bears meant for children facing life-threatening illnesses.
“The bears go places parents can’t. The bears go into testing. The bears go into surgery,” said Jeanette Maurer, the founder of the Joe Joe Bear Foundation. “They go to children with cancer. Children that have heart issues, transplants, and children that go into surgery.”
Earlier in the week, Maurer said more than 100 special teddy bears were stolen from the foundation’s storage facility in Katy.
”That’s just the most heinous crime that you could possibly do, stealing from sick children,” said Maurer.
The nonprofit gives away the new teddy bears to children in area hospitals. But they are unlike other stuffed animals you can buy in a store, instead of coming straight from the factory.
“They have to be individually bagged, sealed and boxed so that way they’re being touched less by germs and people,” Maurer said.
Now with more than 100 bears missing from their inventory, the nonprofit is looking to replace them to ensure they get to the children they were meant for.
”What we’re hoping is for the community to step up and help us with donations so that way we can purchase more bears,” said Maurer.
If you’d like to make a monetary donation to assist the nonprofit, visit their website at www.joejoebear.org.