Solace in a Special Form
Soft, cuddly, fuzzy, perky, delightful, affable, comforting and ready to hug. These are but a few adjectives used to describe a very unique member of the Canadian Red Cross team that responds to disasters. It's none other than Zeddy, the 14 inch tall teddy bear that has captured the hearts of many Canadians, both young and old. (Well, it's actually 16 inches tall if you count that fuzzy tuft of hair.)
Zeddy, Zellers' mascot since 1986, has had a brief, but illustrious career with the Red Cross. Thanks to a corporate partnership with Hudson's Bay Company that began in 1998 with a contribution of 24,000 of the lovable bears over a four year period. These bears gave a lot of comfort to children who were affected by situations totally beyond their control. Hudson's Bay Company - Canada's largest department store retailer and oldest corporation - is the founding member of the thirteen member Red Cross Disaster Services Corporate Partners Team. After many years of helping when it was needed the most - the Bay and Zellers (the leading chains in the Hudson's Bay Company family of stores) stocked the Red Cross shelves with much needed relief supplies during the Ice Storm that ripped through eastern Canada in 1998.
The reddish tan coloured Zeddy sports a short yellow t-shirt and when you squeeze its back, its pudgy arms flap up and down. It has become a fixture during disaster relief operations - ranging in size from a single home house fire to large scale disaster such as the Swiss Air plane crash that happened near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia in September 1998. While Zeddy can never come close to repairing the deep loss of such tragic events, it can offer a bit of short term comfort to those in need.
Each year Canadian Red Cross offices from coast to coast respond to hundreds of house fires. As a family is left out on the street as their home left destroyed or partially damaged, many without insurance - Zeddies are given to the tiny folks.
When more than 5,000 Kosovar refugees came to Canada in the spring of 1999, young children who had lost everything, smiled as they clutched the open arms of this little bear. "Our partnership with Hudson's Bay Company continues to strengthen with each and every disaster we respond to," says John C. Mulvihill, Canadian Red Cross Deputy Secretary General. "I traveled to many of the bases where the faces of the Kosovar children lit up with the arrival of the Zeddy Bears. They were a small, but very significant part of the help offered by the Red Cross."
"When a Red Cross volunteer arrives with a teddy bear and gives it to a child, or even better, gives it to a parent to give to the child, parents are enormously grateful for the support," adds a Red Cross staff person who has delivered many a bear. "To be able to give something cuddly to a child who has lost everything means an enormous amount. It's the beginning of recovery."
"We are extremely proud to continue our support as a National Disaster Services Partner of the Canadian Red Cross," says George Heller, President and CEO, Hudson' s Bay Company. "The 70,000 associates of Hudson's Bay Company are fueled by the desire to help those in need at times of tragedy and provide relief supplies to comfort them in their recovery. Zeddy and the Bay blanket program demonstrates the thoughtfulness and compassion of all our associates and their concern for their communities."
While other charities sell teddy bears to fundraise, this special, little critter comes with no price tag, but a label that offers safety tips for small children. Recently Zeddy appeared in a display titled "Working Bears" at a museum in Wilkie, Saskatchewan. And this small creature has done its fair share of work - with close to 20,000 distributed since 1998. A bear for all season whose power can't be measured.
