McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

Local News

October 18, 2007

Program can help make a child’s cares easier to bear

By Susan Brittingham

There are many children who desperately need the comfort a stuffed animal can give.

Maybe someone much bigger has caused broken bones and doesn’t want to take the hurting child to a doctor because then the big person would have to go to jail.

Or maybe Mommy and Daddy are fighting and even though they would never dream of hitting one of their much-loved children, the little ones are scared just the same.

And then there are times when little children are involved in car wrecks and their little hearts are beating fast. Having a Teddy bear to clutch tightly helps calm down tiny hearts.

For all these reasons, and in memory of a little girl who didn’t live long enough to see three candles on her birthday cake, law enforcement officers here are now carrying Teddy bears in their patrol cars.

“These Teddy bears comfort the children and let them know we’re not the bad guys,” Det. Capt. Shawn Smith said as she accepted several dozen bears from Loretha Sweetin Monday afternoon.

“This is a wonderful gift and I truly appreciate the efforts of Ms. Sweetin and all the others who get these Teddy bears to children in crisis.

“Children can get extremely upset, and these bears help them.”

Smith said she was going to quickly begin calling officers from the McAlester Police Department to her office so the Teddy bears would be immediately available to children who need them.

Pittsburg County Undersheriff Richard Sexton was also on hand to collect Teddy bears, ones that would be given throughout the county by deputies at the sheriff’s department.

Sweetin voluntarily drives all over the state collecting Teddy bears to give to abused and/or frightened children. She does it in memory of Kelsey Briggs, a victim of child abuse who was only 2 years old when she died.

“Sadly, there are hundreds and hundreds of children out there who need these Teddy bears,” Sweetin said. “We want to give a Teddy bear to every child in a crisis.”

The project is called Hugs Across America — The Kelsey Briggs Chapter.

Kelsey, who loved stuffed Teddy bears, died Oct. 11, 2005, after a fatal blow to her abdomen at the Meeker home of her mother, Raye Dawn Smith, and her stepfather, Michael Lee Porter. Before her death, 2-year-old Kelsey was covered in bruises and had numerous broken bones.

Both Smith and Porter are in prison for Kelsey’s death.

As horrible as it is, Kelsey’s brief life history isn’t the only child abuse story in this state.

“Unfortunately, we go on numerous calls where there are young children present,” Sexton, the undersheriff, said. “These stuffed animals give those children comfort.

“Children are our future and we have to protect them as well as teach them the good ways of life,” Sexton continued as he loaded Teddy bears into his truck. “If you can get a child to see you as a friend, they will always look up to law enforcement and lead a more disciplined life.”

Sweetin, the woman who travels the state collecting Teddy bears, said “Any agencies who deal with children experiencing a crisis are welcome to contact me for bears.”

She also asks that churches, schools, organizations and businesses put out a box in which people can place donated Teddy bears.

“That way, all they have to do is go by and drop a bear in the box,” Sweetin said. “Like at Chique Salon in McAlester, where Christie Phillips has had a box out for a long time and people donate Teddy bears frequently.

“It’s easy to donate a bear and it can make such a difference to a frightened, hurting child.”

Contact Susan Brittingham at 421-2029.

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