SUMMERSIDE – Five years on, and Edna Gallant is still blown away by the support from Prince County residents for her Teddy Bear Drive.
Gallant's son Chad died in a car accident in 2006. To honour his memory, the Elmsdale resident began collecting teddy bears so West Prince RCMP officers could provide them to children involved in tragic or crisis situations.
Gallant's first campaign received 167 donations from the public, a number that's grown to nearly 300 annually in recent years.
"We had, and we still have, children who would take money from their own savings and buy the teddy bears. It's absolutely overwhelming," said Gallant.
"We're hoping these bears will make some people stop and think."
Gallant, who works at Scotiabank in O'Leary, will have some extra help for this year's drive.
Employees of Scotiabank's Summerside branch will be pitching in during the annual downtown Santa Claus parade on Nov. 28.
The staff is asking residents to purchase a new teddy bear to bring to Monday's parade, while a team of "elves" will walk the route to collect the donations.
"We'd love to be able to get a couple hundred bears," said Summerside branch manager Georgia Ellis. "As clients are coming into the branch ...everybody who asks what it's all about is totally overwhelmed by this Teddy Bear Drive and they want to be a part of it."
After all the donations are collected, Gallant, her family and coworkers will give each bear a hand-made tag displaying a photograph of Chad, along with his birthday and the date of his accident.
This drive will also mark the first time bears will be donated to Island EMS paramedics.
Gallant said police officers and social workers constantly hand out the teddy bears to comfort children, and their stock often runs low throughout the year.
"Years ago they used to be supplied (with bears), maybe from a hockey game in Charlottetown where people would throw teddies on the ice, but (in the years before the drive) they'd had nothing," she said. "They did run out at one point last summer, and we just went out on our own and bought a bunch to keep them going. Every year when we turn them in, there's usually very few left in the box at the (RCMP) office."
She added that several businesses in West Prince have been instrumental in the drive's success each year. Cavendish Farms, where Chad worked at the time of his accident, provides dozens of donations, while other companies will purchase teddy bears instead of holding a staff gift exchange.
In addition to Monday's Santa Claus parade, the public can bring their Teddy Bear donations to the Summerside and O'Leary Scotiabank branches.
