Thousands of teddy bears to bring in the joy

READY, TEDDY, GO: Chairman of the Teddies for Loving Care Trust chairman Tony Mansfield presents teddy bears to (from left), Planet Sunshine clinical nurse manager Deb McKay and emergency department staff Dr Sue Peters and registered nurse Sarah Kapene at Gisborne Hospital. Freemasons nationwide are donating 28,000 teddy bears to public hospitals over the next three years to comfort sick children. Picture by Paul Rickard

MORE than 25,000 teddy bears are preparing to give love to hospitalised children all over New Zealand but at Gisborne Hospital the teddies are ready now.

The New Zealand Freemasons donated the teddy bears to the emergency department and Planet Sunshine.

The Gisborne Hospital teddy bears are the vanguard of 28,000 teddy bears to be distributed around the country’s hospitals over the next three years.

Teddies for Loving Care Trust chairman Tony Mansfield said New Zealand Freemasons wanted to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the United Grand Lodge of England.

They decided to adopt the charity of the English lodge, which has distributed two million teddy bears in the United Kingdom since 2000.

Mr Mansfield said the efforts of the English lodge had been well received and members believed a similar campaign would work in New Zealand.

Gisborne, as the “first city to see the light”, had been chosen as the region in which to start the project. Rotorua is next.

Mr Mansfield said Freemason funds raised locally would stay local to buy teddy bears.

The toys were bought from the same manufacturer that supplied the United Grand Lodge of England to keep costs down.

Past Master Jim Keywood said Gisborne funds were raised by local members paying into their Freemasons benevolent fund.