Local company donates bears to area Red Cross

With help from F.B. Distro, the Putnam County Unit of the Wabash Valley Red Cross Chapter will be able to deliver teddy bears to children in need.

Employees of the local clothing distributor's quality assurance department recently donated nearly 130 teddy bears to the local Red Cross unit.

The local unit gives the teddy bears to children who have lost all toys due to house fires.

"A lot of times, children lost all of their toys (at a house fire)," local unit Community Development Director Christine Klinger said. "This is a way to provide comfort for these children."

A group of six employees from F.B. Distro delivered the toys to the Red Cross Wednesday.

"Our bear supply has been dwindling," she said. "We haven't been able to replenish it due to budgetary reasons.

"These will last us quite some time."

Klinger said Putnam County averages close to 17 fires a year.

She said the Walt Disney Company had donated Mickey Mouse dolls to Red Cross units around the nation, but the local unit had few left.

F.B. Distro representative Talitha Tincher said the employees all decided to donate something within the county this year. She said the quality assurance department elected to donate the bears to the Red Cross because of all the local unit does for the community.

"Every-body was involved," Tincher said. "And I knew that (the Red Cross) does a lot. They go out and help (people in need)."

Tincher said the theme of the project was "Spirit of Giving."

She added the bears were collected by several F.B. Distro employees and other businesses in the community, not just representatives from the quality assurance department.

"Everybody pitched in, from all departments," Tincher said.

"And everybody enjoyed it, because this was the first year we did something like this."