The holiday season is the time for giving, for sharing a little warmth and comfort. The students at Sacred Hearts School spent the entire month of December gathering up as much warmth and comfort as possible in the form of teddy bears to donate to HospiceCare as part of the Dori Bear Project.
Every year the students at Sacred Hearts participate in an Advent community service project. In the past they’ve collected items for the Sun Prairie Emergency Food Pantry, had giving trees, had fundraisers for the Humane Society and more.
This year, “we wanted to do something different,” Toni Smith, Sacred Hearts librarian, said. While Smith was not a member of the Advent Project Committee, she presented the idea of collecting Dori Bears for this year’s project to the committee.
“My mother was sick for about two and a half years, and at one point of it, she had to go into Hospice,” Smith said. “At that time, the grandchildren and she were all given a Dori Bear.”
The Dori Bear namesake is given to all teddy bears donated to HospiceCare in honor of HospiceCare patient Doris Klubertanz, who died June 1, 1994. While alive, Doris Klubertanz was surrounded by teddy bears. She believed in their power to bring warmth, love and a smile. Because she found them to be such a comfort, she left a gift to HospiceCare to establish the Dori Bear project.
Dori Bears great patients as they enter their rooms in HospiceCare’s Inpatient Unit and accompany staff members and volunteers on home visits.
Smith’s mother, Jacqueline Peterson, first went into HospiceCare about six months ago for in-patient care. Last month, she went into Hospice for respite care for about five days. During her second stint at Hospice, Smith said she noticed there were very few Dori Bears left.
“The very first time we went to Hospice, my kids and I wanted to raise bears for this,” smith said. “And the second time we went in and saw there were hardly any bears, I brought it to my kids’ scout troops and our school, and it’s a huge success. We’ve collected hundreds of bears. It’s phenomenal.”
The students have been collecting the bears since Advent began on Nov. 29, and the collection drive will end at the start of Christmas break. The Dori Bears will be delivered to Hospice by the Sacred Hearts Daisy Troop in January. HospiceCare distributes a minimum of 2,000 bears a year.
“It was so funny, I brought an example of a Dori Bear in and the very next day Stephanie [Schoenberger, Advent Project Committee Member] had three in her room,” Smith said. “It’s just such a comfort. Everybody just loves it and I’m so glad we were able to do this.”
Smith’s mother passed away Dec. 6, 2009, and “we had our bears until the end at our house,” Smith said. “It was right next to her until she died.”
For more information about the Dori Bear Project, call HospiceCare at (608) 276 – 4660 (Madison) or (608) 755 – 1871 (Janesville); or e-mail dori@hospicecareinc.com.
