STORE, FIRE DEPARTMENT TO GIVE TEDDY BEARS TO CHILDREN IN CRISIS

Firefighters from Cape Girardeau have teamed up with employees of a local department store to help make emergency situations a little more bearable for young children.

The Cape Girardeau Target Store donated 200 teddy bears to the fire department Tuesday as a part of the Target Helping Hugs program. The program, in its seventh year, supplies emergency workers with stuffed animals to help ease children's fears and anxieties during emergencies.

Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Dan White said Tuesday that his department fully supports any effort to help children during times of crisis. Giving children teddy bears during fires, medical emergencies or other times of crisis will ease their minds, he said.

"Any time there is trauma in a child's life, something like this will get them through the rough time with something warm and fuzzy," White said.

"The Cape Girardeau Fire Department is always interested in helping people," he said.

Representatives from Cape Girardeau Fire Station No. 2 on Mount Auburn Road rode to Target on a ladder truck to pick up the bears.

Nationwide, Target will donate more than 160,000 teddy bears to local affiliates of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians.

"Helping Hugs is a community program that we look forward to each year," said Rodney Hall, executive team leader at the Cape Girardeau Target and coordinator of the local Helping Hugs effort. "We're pleased to provide these huggable bears to the fire department."

Stuffed animals have become recurring passengers on many emergency vehicles because research has shown that they have a comforting effect on children in emergency situations, Hall said.

Target began the program nationwide in cooperation with the association in 1991, creating the first effort to organize the distribution of stuffed animals on a national basis. The local Target store has participated in the program for three years.