Teddies4Kiddies - About Us

Lisa Hudson has combined her love of knitting and her desire to do something meaningful into a unique and worthwhile project during the holiday season (2006). For the last couple of years, Lisa has been knitting teddy bears and then giving them to Doctors Without Borders who distribute them for her to needy children around the world.

Beginning in January 2006 and continuing until September of 2006, Lisa knitted another fifty-nine teddy bears. However, she decided, through the very able help and prompting of her friend Felicitas Tan, to personally oversee the distribution of the bears to needy children.

Felicitas' experience working for Foster Parents Plan International (PLAN) in the Philippines as a Field Evaluator came in very handy in the dynamic duo's efforts to spread a little joy with a new gift to kids at Christmas. It is easy to see that with Felicitas' not-for-profit experience and Lisa's love of knitting, they are a perfect combination for their charity initiative aptly named Teddies 4 Kiddies (T4K).

While Lisa knitted, Felicitas arranged to have the bears transported to the Philippines and contacted her former colleague at Plan, Nithia Tayag, to handle the distribution of the teddy bears. They were given away to children in the province of Occidental Mindoro, specifically in a rural town called Rizal which is one of the poorest towns in the Philippines.

OUR GOAL

The goal of Teddies 4 Kiddies (T4K) is simple - to make poor children happy with a teddy bear of their very own. We aspire to make enough bears such that no poor children in selected areas will be without one.

Though the bears left Canada the last week of September, they only arrived in the Philippines a mere 2 weeks before Christmas. However, they got there on time and were a great success to the point that other children in Rizal and other towns have requested them. Unfortunately, some children did not get one as there was just not enough to go around.