THE latest efforts by Stoke Climsland residents to help victims of the tsunami is the Ton of Teddies appeal instigated by one of the village mothers. An idea to collect 1,000 teddies for the children who have been left orphaned by the disaster was sparked by Linda Pascoe?s three-year-old son Cree. Linda and Cree were watching news reports of the aftermath of the tsunami when a child who had lost his family appeared on the screen and Linda said, ?Don?t you just want to hug him?? It was then that Cree said he could give him a teddy bear to cuddle. ?I started off with a trailer of teddies, then a truck and now it is a ton,? said Linda, who is running the appeal in association with Ducklings Pre-School in Stoke Climsland. It follows hot on the heels of a £10,000 donation to the relief fund raised from special breakfasts laid on at the village community centre. ?The whole thing has just snowballed and I have already got 17 bags of teddies sitting in my house,? added Linda. ?But we still need more ? as many as we can possibly get. ?You see these kids on television with their big brown eyes and they have lost everything ? it just makes you want to do something.? From researching about the aid mission on the internet the Stoke Climsland mother got in touch with the International Buddhist Relief Organisation which runs orphanages in Sri Lanka. She said: ?When I first made enquiries the demand was for medical supplies, food and shelter which is obviously the main priority. ?The monks said to me they could rebuild the orphanages, feed and cloth the children but when it came to giving them some comfort ? something to cuddle ? that was a harder task because of the sheer amount of children.? Linda said people across the UK had been brilliant in raising money to help the victims but a teddy bear was something a child could give. ?Everybody needs a cuddle and it is a very sentimental thing for a child to give a much-loved teddy bear to another child,? she said. ?We don?t want everything mechanical or with rattles or shakers ? just plain old huggable teddy bears.? The teddies will be heading out of the country on aid lorries with the International Buddhist Relief Organisation in March so the last date for collection is February 28. There are numerous collection points where people can donate their cuddly toys, including Ducklings Playgroup, Stoke Climsland Primary School and Post Office, Trewartha?s and Spar in Callington and Kelly Bray Post Office. ?Everyone has been really supportive and a lot of shops and businesses have agreed to be involved,? said Linda. She paid a special thanks to Launceston companies David Smith Packaging, DB Storage and Shoe Fayre for supplying boxes and storage and extra support. For more information about the appeal or the work being done by the International Buddhist Relief Organisation contact Linda on 07790 631172.
