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Teddy bears, Beanie Babies get new homes with children here and in Israel
(Herald & Review (Decatur, IL) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan. 1--David and Mary Traxler waited in store lines early in the morning to snag the latest Beanie Babies to hit the market.
They amassed a collection of more than 200, including a bunch of oversized Beanie Buddies and a handful of tiny Teeny Beanies.
"Half the fun of collecting the Beanie Babies was standing in line, meeting people," Mary Traxler said.
After they moved into a smaller home in Hammond, however, the toys were a bit cramped in their new digs.
When the Traxlers heard a call for Teddy bears and Beanie Babies on WGNJ-FM, they donated most of the collection for distribution to children locally and in Israel.
Carrie Burns, creative services director for the rural White Heath radio station, said listeners donated 1,492 stuffed animals.
Burns and her husband, Mark, have led 14 group tours of Israel since 2000, including five Cargo of Care missions, in which stuffed animals and other gifts were distributed. The first Cargo of Care took place in 2002, especially to comfort children who had been injured by terrorists at the height of the Palestinian uprising.
About 500 stuffed animals will be taken on the next trip to the Holy Land, Feb. 20 to March 2.
They will be given to Jewish children at a messianic fellowship in Tiberias and Arab children who attend a Bible club in Nazareth. Other toys and items for infants will also be donated in Israel.
"We are bringing trinkets, treasures and toys to Arab Christian kids in Nazareth and Galilee," Carrie Burns said. "They get rewards for memorizing scriptures. They bring their Muslim buddies, too."
The remaining toys are being distributed through children's homes and agencies in Champaign, Rantoul, Decatur and Attica, Ind.
Children living in Decatur's Webster-Cantrell Hall have been on the radio station's list for several years. Carrie Burns returned to the children's home this Christmas season.
Debbie England, Webster-Cantrell's development director, said the donations help to ensure that each child receives a present.
"They know they are not forgotten," England said. "We also give them to other children in the community, in families where they might not otherwise receive gifts. We provide Christmas gifts for more than 200 children."
Mary Traxler, who has been collecting Beanie Babies since 1994, said she and her husband were glad to find such a worthy cause for the collection.
"It's gladdened our hearts to be able to do it," she said.
Huey Freeman can be reached at hfreeman@herald-review.com or 421-6985.
To see more of Herald & Review, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald-review.com
Copyright (c) 2008, Herald & Review, Decatur, Ill.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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