Bear Collection Ministry Provides Essential Comfort and Prayers

Members of our St. Vincent de Paul Bear Collection Ministry may be the ones seeking and gathering and delivering stuffed teddy bears to young patients at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth — but to Mary Ellis, ministry founder, it is God who is making it all work.

“The thing about this ministry is that God is running it — it has nothing to do with me,” Mary says. “God is working this. It’s a true ministry in that way. We’re just the arms and legs of it.”

What the ministry has done since 2008 is collect stuffed teddy bears, typically in Pack and Play playpens placed in the church. When the playpens are full, the bears are gathered, blessed, and delivered to the Pastoral Care Department at the hospital. The bears are given to patients ranging from newborns in the NICU department to teens up to 18 years of age. The bears are the children’s to keep and take home.

Each bear is given along with the poem The Legend of the Prayer Bear by Annie Miller, which includes the stanza:

Every time I feel afraid, I’ll hug my Prayer Bear tight. For I have friends who care for me. And I will be all right.

Others collect and donate the bears, including several area schools, Girl Scout troops, women’s groups, and two area jewelry stores — Jared and Kay Jewelers, who donate packaged bears from holiday promotions.

All the bears collected must follow the hospital’s guidelines for sizes and construction.

“Our goal is to bring comfort and prayers to the children,” Mary says. “The ministry developed out of a need. I’m just a minister answering a request.”

Since the pandemic has placed restrictions on how the bears are collected and distributed, the number of bears typically given to the hospital has declined. In normal times, however, the hospital distributes about 15,000 bears each year.

The ministry’s origins are with a prayer chain that Mary Ellis belonged to here at St. Vincent. The members would pray for the patients at Cook Children’s. One day, Mary received an email from Patsy McDaniel, the chaplain in the Pastoral Care Department at the hospital, saying the department had run out of bears.

“We started collecting a few bears and had them blessed, and donated,” Mary says. “That year, I was retiring from teaching and had extra time, so I suggested to the Prayer Chain that we continue collecting bears. We put an announcement in the bulletin, and placed a box in the parish office.”

Our parishioners quickly filled that box, and the ministry began in earnest.

A three-person leadership team was organized with Mary overseeing special projects, Wendy Perez coordinating and Malena Serrano assisting.

Membership grew in the ministry as our parishioners could see that their participation would be an opportunity to practice stewardship.

“It’s a really simple way of sharing with people who are afraid or alone,” Wendy says. “It’s nice to give a physical item to someone.”

“Our parishioners have embraced this ministry,” Mary says.

As the ministry’s work became well known, Mary has found that she receives unexpected donations of cash and bears.

“We get bears or cash or because the giver’s hearts are tied to Cook Children’s,” Mary says. “They pay it forward. Mothers tell me, ‘I rock my child to sleep with the bear’ or ‘My child got a bear, so I donate.’”

In another instance of serendipity, Mary inadvertently called a wrong number, and the woman on that number called her back when Mary left a message.

“‘I’m not the lady you were calling, but do you need bears?’” the woman asked.

“I said, ‘I collect bears for Cook Children’s,’” Mary says.

The woman had an extensive collection of new bears that she offered to the ministry.

“There were bins of bears,” Mary says. “There are stories like that. God is working this.”

While the children receiving the bears are blessed with prayers from others, children who collect and donate bears also receive the blessings of helping other children who are suffering.

“When I started this, I had the idea of children helping children,” Mary says.

The act of collecting and donating bears enables youngsters to become aware of the needs of other children like themselves. On the occasions of school children visiting the hospital, they also are made aware of career opportunities in helping others.

As pandemic restrictions are eased in the future, the regular collection playpens will once again be put in use. Anyone with questions about ministry may call Wendy Perez at the parish office at 817-478-8206, ext. 209.

Fr. Philip blesses the bears before they are taken to Cook Children’s Medical Center.

Karla and Frida Rodriguez organize bears with their mother, Malena Serrano.

Bobby and Lisa Burke with Patsy McDaniel of the Pastoral Care Department at Cook Children’s, and volunteers.

(From left) ministry members Dennis Sell, Pastoral Care Director Patsy McDaniel, Mary Ellis (Bear Ministry leader team member and ministry founder), Laura Rose, and leader team member Malena Serrano.