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Lehigh fire district helps local school reach stuffed animal goals

By MELISSA BILL - | Apr 21, 2021

news@breezenewspapers.com

Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District is partnering with Lehigh Elementary School on a stuffed animal drive to benefit the Department of Children and Families.

The collection of new stuffed animals will be ongoing throughout the month of April, which aligns with Child Abuse Prevention Month. National Child Abuse Prevention Month is held yearly to recognize the importance of families and communities working together to help prevent child abuse and neglect.

According to Katie Heck, spokesperson for the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District, a member of their staff had a direct connection to this year’s fundraiser.

“One of our firefighters is personally connected to Lehigh Elementary and brought it to our attention. It’s a successful fundraiser they do every year. We thought it might be difficult to drop off the stuffed animals to the schools, but maybe easier for people to participate by dropping it off to one of our fire stations,’ Heck said. “We have our own fire fighters bringing in stuffed animals. We want to show our support to these students in their efforts to do a good thing in the community.”

Heck wants to get the word out to the community and get more people involved.

“So far we are getting some calls and drop-offs. I’m doing a large pickup from one of the contributors. We plan to keep the donation drop-offs going through the month of April,” Heck said.

According to Karyna Sandin, fourth grade teacher at Lehigh Elementary and fundraiser coordinator, this is the second year the school has participated in the stuffed animal drive.

“This is actually only our second time conducting the Stuffed Animal Drive. I had brought it to our school last year after hearing about another teacher who collected teddy bears during the holidays for children who were in the hospital. We also did our drive during the holidays but collected both new and old stuffed animals. The new stuffed animals were brought to Valerie’s House, which is an organization that provides support to children and families who are grieving the loss of a loved one,” Sandin said. “And we collected 200 old stuffed animals that we donated to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office so that they can give to children on scenes of accidents or calls where they may be scared and need comfort.”

Besides helping kids in need, the toys bring a sense of community to the students that work hard to get them ready for their new homes.

“My fourth-grade students at the time, which are the ones you see on our social media with all the stuffed animals, absolutely LOVED counting and organizing the stuffed animals into new and old boxes. Each day they were even more excited than the day before to see how many we received and all the variations of animals we got. They would imagine what the kids receiving the animals would think of each one,” Sandin said.

Sandin said her kids’ smiles say it all.

“It was such an amazing experience each time a student would come to my room to bring in either their old or new animals because of the smiles they had on their faces knowing they were doing something to help other kids. I will never forget a brother and sister who came in together with a garbage bag filled with old stuffed animals that they had decided to donate. It was something that really stuck with me. The fact that kids at their age can realize the impact they can make on others with a small act of kindness was something I was super proud of. Speaks for the character and heart of the kids at our school. They weren’t worried about the fact they now have no stuffed animals at home, but instead, how happy their stuffed animals would make someone else,” Sandin continued.

Sandin chose DCF for this year’s stuffed animal drive after coming into contact with an old college friend who worked for DCF as a Child Protective Investigator Supervisor.

“I asked my friend and they quickly replied and gave me the idea to do it during the month of April, which is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Once I figured that out, I spoke to my boyfriend who is an engineer over at Station 101 in Lehigh Acres, and asked if he thought he could get the department involved to try and get an even bigger turnout this year. He immediately contacted Katie Heck who is the public relations officer for the Lehigh Acres Fire Department and she agreed that it would be a great idea to team up,” Sandin said.

Once collected, the new stuffed animals will go to the Department of Children and Families where they will use the donations in the following ways:

• For children who are immediately taken into their care and are placed into foster care

• For the Children’s Advocacy Center, where they provide therapy to children who have been sexually abused

• For Better Together; a program that works with at-risk youth/families to prevent them from coming into foster care.

Members of the public can donate a new stuffed animal to any of the LAFCRD fire stations listed below:

• Station 101- 1000 Joel Blvd

• Station 103 – 308 Gunnery Road

• Station 104 – 3102 16th St SW

• Station 105 – 636 Thomas Sherwin Ave S

Stuffed animals will be collected throughout the month of April and then delivered by the district firefighters to Lehigh Elementary on April 30.

For more information visit https://www.lehighfd.com/ or https://lhl.leeschools.net/