Hello! My little card says, “Hello! I just want to be your teddy bear! You are beary sweet and you are beary loved!”
What a lovely introduction to this delightful gift I received a few days before I moved to my new room at ______ Retirement Residence on February 1 2025 – in _______. It was handed to me by our Activity Coordinator J______ at my door.
I have named my bear “GRACE.” She has a pink nose and paws with blue, green, and mauve coloured large dots and a white scarf trimmed with a carnation or rose. Cute as a button!
The blanket (blue and white stripe) sits very well on my knees during evening hours.
Thank you so much - with love from a fellow Senior, Margaret. God Bless to All.

By the end of February, Bears and Blankets – an offering from Grace Mennonite Church – will have placed 904 Care Kits in 41 homes. The care kits consist of a teddy bears with a personalized scarf, a homey shawl or small blankets, a beary cute card, and bear-paw cookies. I’m very grateful for the helpers – at Grace MC and in our community. For more information, talk to Jan Steven.

Info packs – including a mini bear and a mini blanket and bearpaws cookie and a card – were delivered to City Council on Monday, September 9.
The amazing women of the Catholic Women’s League gave Bears and Blankets a generous donation of hand-made lap blankets, teddy bears, fabric, and wool. And VV also gave this free program many bears and some blankets.
Ten B & B Care Kits were requested by and brought to Shaver Rehab Hospital – and I’ve heard that the first recipient was very happy to receive her Care Kit.
And we have received two more requests from two different Care Homes! Plus a thank you note from another Happy Home!
To date (September 2024) we have placed 604 Care Kits in 34 Care Homes! This does not include the new request!
Thank you to Ester F, Mary K, and Paula G for your ongoing help and encouragement. – Jan Steven

​Yesterday I had the fun of putting together two sets of care kits.
 
One long term care home wanted only teddy bears – no blankets or scarves or cookies. No worries, I put a bow around the necks of the teddies with a little card that says “I just want to be your teddy bear.” And I put them in gift bags I’ve been collecting.
 
Another LTC home wanted 25 care kits – with all the fixings!  Yee haw! My friends and I can do that too. Why have I got a blanket over a few of them in the picture? Because I want to jazz a few of the bears up even more, so they aren’t yet in a plastic bag. At the same time, I don’t want our two old cats sleeping on them.
 
We have another request for 10 care kits that I’ll start collecting for. And the good folks at Grantham Mennonite Brethren Church on Grantham St. have been collecting this month. Once I have a bit of a supply, then I can reach out to the retirement homes in the Niagara Region. All of the long term care homes have been contacted by email and by letter-mail and we have placed 288 Care Kits in 19 Homes.
 
For me, this is so rewarding. Thank you! / jan on behalf of B & B - GMC