Castle Rock – Sara Fitouri, 16, can still remember the car accident that shook her up more than a decade ago.
The then-5-year-old remembers being confused and upset as her mom dealt with the police.
“It was really scary,” she said. Then paramedics approached.
“I was sitting down, and then they said, ‘Do you want a bear?’ I remember it had a shirt on,” she said. “It was something to hold on to.”
The Douglas County High School junior still has the stuffed animal that gave her comfort so many years ago. Now, the student-council member is among a group of students trying to raise money and collect teddy bears for other children in trauma.
“We visualize the bears going to sexual-assault victims, battered women and children,” said Jack Plummer, a career coach at Douglas County High who organized the bear-collection project on behalf of special-needs students at the high school.
A former victims’ advocate for local law enforcement, Plummer said teddy bears often give comfort to kids caught in the chaos of a domestic dispute or accident. “My interest is kids,” he said. “A child can cry into it and tell it secrets. It’s something that’s going to be there.”
Plummer would like to collect 200 bears. Already, he has gotten about 35 stuffed animals. The student council has donated $500 for another 70 bears.
On Dec. 8, special-needs students and student-council members will bag the bears and present them to the Castle Rock Police Department so officers can carry them in their vehicles.
Mary Joy Lewis, who teaches students with profound needs such as autism or who are nonverbal, said the project offers a chance for her students to participate in their community.
“They want to be part of the greater population,” she said.
Jon Auguston, a 16-year-old special-needs student, said he wants to help kids.
“Those kids that have been in crashes, they can start loving on it,” he said shyly.
“Bears make the children happy,” said his friend, Jacob Wheatley, a junior. “They feel happy.”
Carole Malezija, a victims-assistance coordinator for the Castle Rock Police Department, said the bears play “a really good role with kids in many ways, not only if they’re a victim.”
It can be comforting “if we do a death notification and the kid is there, and they see an adult cry,” she said. “We encourage the officers to use them.”
The donated bears will be shared with other police departments, she said.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-820-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
How to help
Money or new bear donations can be dropped off at Douglas County High School, 2842 Front St. in Castle Rock. The Castle Rock Police Department asks that the bears be soft, preferably brown bears, between 12 and 16 inches long.
