Community Letters to the Editor Opinion
Letter to the editor: Community donated nearly 900 teddy bears
Kiwanis Club of Gig Harbor’s Key Club members at Peninsula High School, would like to express their appreciation to the entire community for generous contributions of teddy bears and money towards the Operation Teddy Bear project. Key Club members wanted to collect 600 new or gently-used teddy bears and enough money to ship the bears to children in Ukraine. They exceeded the goal, resulting in collecting nearly 900 teddy bears!
Key Club members want to recognize Gary Parker, owner of BBQ2U, for his financial contribution; Kiwanis Club of Gig Harbor members for donating teddy bears and cash; and to the Franke Tobey Jones, Senior Living Community residents for their enthusiastic donation of teddy bears and their generous financial contribution.
Additional recognition is needed for community members who dropped teddy bears off at the school, at the Kiwanis tent during the Lighted Car Parade pre-event., and during the downtown Lighting of the Christmas Tree.
Key Club members who volunteered at the wrap-up event in February at Uptown were surprised by the overwhelming amount of teddy bears dropped off from the Gig Harbor High School Sports Boosters and an employee from radio station Kiss 106.5! For a cold day, our hearts were warmed with such over-whelming generosity!
A very sincere “thank you” is directed to Christina Henry, writer for Gig Harbor NOW, who attended three Key Club meetings. She arrived in the fall when the project got off the ground, to a meeting when all the teddy bears were showcased for Channel 5 TV news, and finally on the day Key Club members prepared the teddy bears for shipment. Christina contributed her time and attention to the project and wrote two in-depth articles on behalf of the Key Club of Peninsula High School.
Co-President of PHS Key Club Julia Van
Co-President of PHS Key Club Gabby F
Kiwanis Key Club Advisor Jeni Mallory
Kiwanis Key Club Advisor Sharon Baker
The Peninsula High School Key Club collected more than 700 teddy bears for children impacted by war in Ukraine. Peninsula High School Key Club