Teddy Bear Drive

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Teddy Bear Drive

Friday, 3 October 2014 06:52

Brand new stuffed animals are being collected in memory of Baby Alex, killed by an impaired driver in 2008.

WOODSTOCK -- Over the past four years, close to 6,200 stuffed animals have been donated to the Woodstock General Hospital and Children's Hospital in London, in memory of Baby Alex.

On October 14th 2008, four month-old Alexander Fleming died from the injuries he sustained in a collision caused by an impaired driver at the corner of Devonshire and Huron in Woodstock.

Baby Alex's mother Mary Rodrigues was driving the car that carried him, his father Mike Fleming and brothers Max and Ethan, home from a family dinner

Baby Alex and Mary were rushed from the scene to the Woodstock Hospital before Alex was taken to the Children's Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries

In the days following the collision, stuffed animals were left at the scene of the collision in memory of Baby Alex, something that Mary says really touched them. "Extremely overwhelming. My nephew, who has since passed away from pancreatic cancer, he was the first one to put a stuffed animal on the light post and then the community just started placing more and more. It lasted for a year on there."

In October of 2009, Mary and Mike made a private donation to the London Hospital in Baby Alex's memory and decided that they would do the same every year -- in October 2010 the Baby Alex Teddy Bear Drive was created.

They wanted to give back to the hospitals that cared for Baby Alex and for the past four years have made donations of stuffed animals and care baskets to the Woodstock Hospital Foundation and Children's Health Foundation in London.

Saturday, October 4th is the Kick-Off event of the 5th Annual Baby Alex Teddy Bear Drive, at École secondaire Notre-Dame in Woodstock from 12:00 to 3:00 pm. The day includes a number of family-fun activites including the popular YFM pedal karts, Woodstock Fire, Police and EMS as well as Little Tracks Petting Zoo and Todd's Dogs. The Woodstock Cooperative Dance will be putting on a small show, Brittany Beatty will have her race car on display and there's some free goodies for the kids. Click here for all of the details. Baby Alex Teddy Bear Drive

Brand new stuffed animals and monetary donations will be collected at the Kick-off Event Saturday and through the following week until Friday, October 10th. Stuffed animal donations can be dropped off at Heart FM, the County of Oxford Admin building on Reeve Street and Time To Chill on Springbank Ave (who are taking collections until the end of October).

Those interested in making a monetarty donation after the Kick-Off Event are welcomed to contact Liz Wismer at Heart FM (liz@1047.ca or 519-537-8400).

Mary points out that the monetary donations are used to purchase items for the care packages and stuff animals. "One thing we want to improve upon this year is the care baskets. Last year when we stopped by Woodstock General Hospital we were extremely touched by the patients in Long Term Care. For most of those patients, that's their last stop in life. So the care baskets, we want to make sure again every single one of those patients get them."

The other basket donations will be going to the Child & Youth Mental at the London Hospital. "I was speaking to a few nurses that work at that hospital and they said those kids they spend weeks at a time there and they are generally the ones that get most overlooked, especially this time of the year. We always take care of the kids in Emergency and Intensive Care and that, but we forget about those that are struggling with mental health issues."

The goal for the 5th Annual Baby Alex Teddy Bear Drive is to collect 1,300 stuffed animals and distribute 150 care baskets.