My son, Sam was almost eleven, when he mentioned that our Religious School, in which he was studying, should be sending teddy bears to the victims of terror in Israel. I had brought the idea of making pins for peace for the children who had survived the bombs there but Sam thought that it was time to change gears. I told the students about Sam’s idea at the religious school Thursday afternoon service and by the next week, we had our first donation, a Build a Bear, from the Build a Bear teddy bears shop at the Paramus Mall, from Sam Volgargaren. Once Sam V. donated his bear, the stuffed toys just started pouring in. I also found a way to advertise, Wally Green at UJA Federation taught me how to join Teaneck Shullist and Fairlawn Shullist. I began advertising on the shul lists that next week. Then the donations of stuffed toys started pouring in during the next several weeks.
We were so excited to get this first donation by Sam. I ran home and assembled 30 from our house and wondered how I could get these teddy bears to Israel and keep getting the word out about the teddy bear project.
How often would I be allowed to send emails on the shullists? Who would help me spread the word? Would the newspapers? These were questions that were flooding my mind. I certainly hoped that I would find help.
My daughter, Shira, helped me pack up (more than) 30 of them into a duffel from Amazing Savings, along with our first donated Build a Bear. We brought them all to Sharon Evans at JFK who was organizing Adopt A Family in Israel. Sharon explained to me on the phone, that Adopt a Family was her attempt at organizing an easy way for families who had suffered terror and loss of income to begin to receive funds from people around the world who would begin to “take care of them”. Sharon Evans had been invited to speak at Temple Emanuel of Closter and came to explain to them how adopt a victim of terror family in Israel would work. She said that if the shul would sponsor a family with $5000, then that would get the family out of their intense depression. The shul would be expected to keep sending money to this adopted family in Israel throughout the year.
She had successfully gotten 80 families “adopted” by several shuls from Bergen County and around the world and was hoping to get 200 families “adopted”. She was hoping to get Temple Emanuel involved in the adopting of these families.
Temple Emanuel raised $150,000 to give her to divide up among the families. I had missed her lecture and called her later that day on her cell phone. I introduced myself and explained what I had hoped to get started, Bears from Bergenfield. I asked her if I could meet her and she said that JKF, King David’s lounge would work for her. I also asked if Shira could come and interview her daughter, Monique Goldwasser, who had barely survived a terrorist attack on Feb. 2, 2001. We also asked her if they would take back the teddy bears to Israel and distribute them for us.Together, Shira and I and our first 30 teddy bears drove off to JFK to meet Sharon and Monique. We spent an hour together and made plans how we could get my family’s project, Bears from Bergenfield, off the ground.
As Shira and I handed over the Build a Bear to Sharon’s natural daughter, Monique Goldwasser, we asked Sharon and Monique, the director of Adopt and Family and her daughter, if they could hook us up with an organization that would distribute teddy bears to the victims of terror. They said yes and called Kidsforkids from the airport, for us in Jerusalem. Yeshara Gold, the executive president of Kidsforkids said that we could begin to send the toys to their victims of terror organization.
That was almost five years ago. To date, Cong. Beth Israel of Bergenfield’s Bears from Bergenfield, have collected new and slightly used stuffed animals and teddy bears which numbers close to 56,500 teddy bears and see no end in sight. We collect nationally and hope to expand this venture to Canada and England and anywhere where people would like to join us and get involved. People are welcome to email me for information. My email address is lgcg98@aol.com. All it takes is a duffel, stuff it with nice looking stuffed animals, get well cards, friendship cards, and find someone to take the duffel to my partners, Betty and Ed Wolfe in Kfar Saba., whose phone number is 0505-354-884 and explain that you have joined up with Bears from Bergenfield’s cause. The Wolfes and our family have been partners for over four years now. We met them through Sharon Evans and her Coca cola teddy bear that she donated to the Wolfes resale shop, Project Esra in Kfar Saba. The Wolfes drive to meet every teddy bear carrier who has kindly brought the teddy bear donation over for us to Israel.
In one week alone, a week before Chanukah 2005, we sent out 23 laundry bags, duffels and boxes to Israel, which totals a few thousand toys. We had just finished shipping over 2000 stuffed toys to the Gush Katif children through Rabbi Pesach Lerner’s (executive director of NCSY), 7 lifts.
Presently, in Israel, we give to 15 hospitals, 5 organizations that assist terror victims, 2 shelters for abused women, orphanages, Jewish community center in Haifa for impoverished children, and any other place that would like to receive from us.
My 4th-5th grade religious school class from Cong. Beth Israel/ Cong. Beth Sholom/Kol Haneshama, runs this program.
Claire Ginsburg Goldstein
Bears from Bergenfield
Founder and Director
finding new meaning in Mitzvah
Mean it with Mitzvah, is there any other way?
86 Deerfield St
Bergenfield, NJ 07621
551-804-8749
