Earthquake victims find healing and compassion [VIDEO]

 

Watch this story: Earthquake victims find healing and compassion in Springfield

Thousands of miles from the rubble that now overwhelms the nation of Haiti, six children are laughing, growing, and healing at Shriners Hospital for Children in Springfield. 

They left behind their families, their comfort zones, and their native languages to get care at the specialty hospital. For the past several weeks, they received around-the-clock, one-on-one attention from a dedicated team of doctors, nurses and volunteers.

The care has helped them to heal not just physically, but emotionally as well.  Now, four of the six children are ready to be discharged.  Before they can return to Haiti, they will enter the local medical foster care system and continue treatment at Shriners as outpatients. 

When they leave the hospital they will be missed, but the impression they made on the hospital and its staff will never be forgotten.

Sending message of love with handmade teddy bears [Video]

The Mother Bear Project is sending bears to more than a dozen countries in Africa plus Haiti. They shipped bear number 37,000 just this week. Amy Berman started the nonprofit.

“See, these bears are pretty great. They’re special. What can I say,” she said.

Berman’s small storage unit in Hopkins is nearly over-flowing with hundreds of the cute, cuddly and very colorful bears. This is where she keeps the ones ready to be shipped, along with materials to make them, including yarn.

The Mother Bear Project has been successful, but even Berman admits it’s not because of her. It’s because of volunteers in the Twin Cities and around the world, helping fulfill the organization’s goal.

“These bears, we are hoping, will bring comfort and hope to the children who receive them,” Berman said.

She sends the bears to some of the poorest children in the world, mostly in Africa. Many of the children are affected with HIV and AIDS, and they’re struggling to survive.

She took several pictures last September when she went to the continent. She said the bears provide some relief for the children.

“It gives them something to hold onto, something to call their own, something to love and something to cuddle at the end of a hard day,” Berman said.

Read more and watch that story: Sending Message Of Love With Handmade Teddy Bears