More than 500 Teddy bears have been delivered to Corewell Health Lakeland Hospital in St. Joseph so they can be given to children receiving medical care throughout the year, all thanks to the South Bend International Airport’s Bears in the Air campaign.
Each year, the airport calls on the community to donate so it can purchase bears to be given to kids at five hospitals in the region. Volunteers on Monday made their delivery to the hospital in St. Joe. Corewell Health Southwest Michigan President Natalie Baggio told us these bears will make the hospital stay a little better for hundreds of kids.
“Because being in a hospital sometimes is a scary place and being able to extend or give like a bear for example to a patient or a family member can create that sense of warmth and caring and compassion,” Baggio said.
The South Bend International Airport this year is donating more than 2,600 bears to the five hospitals it serves. That will make more than 25,000 bears since the airport began Bears in the Air 14 years ago. Airport Director Mike Daigle told he’s seen how a child’s face can light up when they’re given the gift. And he’s heard some great stories.
“We had a gentleman who was giving one to a child and the child was going through cancer treatments, and when the child was walking down the hallway and when the person gave the child the bear, the kid gave this bear a huge hug,” Daigle said. “Then there was a little wagon right there, and he put the bear in the wagon and he turned around and he gave this gentleman a hug.”
Daigle brought Bears in the Air to South Bend from an airport he previously worked at in Wisconsin and says it’s been embraced by the community. He says they never have trouble finding willing donors.
Also as a result of Bears in the Air, the airport will make a cash donation to the Robert L. Miller Sr. Veteran’s Center in South Bend next month.
