Hope Mission Stuffy Drive! Donations of Stuffed Animals Being Accepted for Underprivileged Kids

Do you have any extra stuffed animals around your house somewhere? We have too many.

The Hope Mission is asking for donations from anyone with gently used or new stuffed animals they can spare for underprivileged children for the Summer. The Hope Mission runs two Summer camps in Alberta – one about an hour from Edmonton, and one approximately a half hour from Calgary. Most of the children who attend the camps are from low income families, group care, or foster care. The camps allow the children to be exposed to things they otherwise would not be able to experience, such as nature activities, and a fun camp setting.

Every week when new kids come to camp, the Hope Mission places stuffies on each bed before the children arrive. In previous years, they have noticed that children find comfort in having their own stuffed animal with them at camp. They are also able to take their stuffy home with them for comfort there as well.

I am going to take this opportunity to practice some empathy with my girls, and have them pick out a few of their gently used (or, realistically, never used, just looked at) stuffed animals to bring down to the Hope Mission themselves, and explain that they are for children who don’t have nearly as much as they do. I think that will give so much more meaning to the donation, especially if they are completely on board with it. It’s great to let the kids feel good about helping others from an early age, in my opinion!

There are three locations taking the donations. See below for the address & times:

1. Hope Mission main building 9908-106 Avenue, Monday-Friday 9am-5pm
2. Bargain Shoppe 2403 Ellwood Drive SW, Monday-Saturday 9am-5pm
3. Tegler Youth Center 3805-118 Avenue, Monday-Friday 3pm-8pm

Wishing all of the attending kids for the 2018 Summer a wonderful and memorable experience with camp this summer! -Edmonton Mama