Students stuff bears, tigers for good cause

The fundraiser brought in $1,088 and 1,085 cans for food bank.

By Emily Roman

Published Feb. 12, 2008

More than 400 students, adults and children from the Columbia area stood in a line that went out the door of Memorial Union on Monday night to take part in the fundraiser “Caring, Bearing and Sharing.”

The Student Union Programming Board sponsored the event to raise money and collect cans of food for the Central Missouri Food Bank.

In exchange for either $5 or five cans of food, people took their pick of either a tiger or a black bear to put together.

Then participants stuffed their animal of choice, gave it a foam heart, zipped the seam, donned its neck with their favorite colored ribbon and gave it a name on a birth certificate.

The tigers proved to be the most popular animal, and they ran out first.

All of the tables in Bengal Lair, the seating area near Starbucks in Memorial Union, were piled high with stuffing and filled with people chatting about their animals and plans for the upcoming week and Valentine’s Day.

In order to get the word out to the students and Columbia citizens, the board passed out flyers to residence halls, posted on the TV displays around Memorial Union, sent out an announcement in the MU Info e-mail and created a Facebook.com event, said junior Katie Lonergan, co-coordinator of the “Caring, Bearing and Sharing” event and member of the SUPB Big Events Committee.

Junior Lindsey Zoellner said she heard about the event through a postcard in her mailbox.

Zoellner said she decided to make a stuffed animal because the proceeds go to a good cause and “because they are so cute and only $5. You can’t beat that.”

Some people stuffed the animals for their own enjoyment, while others put careful planning into them for loved ones as a present.

“It goes along with Valentine’s Day,” sophomore Katie Stuckmeyer said.

“You can make a Valentine’s gift for someone else or yourself, and you are giving to Central Missouri Food Bank.”

Stuckmeyer is a co-coordinator of the event and a member of SUPB Big Events Committee.

“I knew this would be the perfect Valentine’s gift for my girlfriend,” freshman Brandon Twichell said.

Sophomore Sam Ellison made an animal for herself and for her boyfriend for Valentine’s Day.

“I think it gets people involved and raises awareness,” she said.

Stuckmeyer said she hopes that this event brings the student body together.

This is the second year that the committee has put on the event.

Last year, they only ordered 200 bears, and they were overwhelmed by the turnout when all the bears were gone within the first half hour, Stuckmeyer said.

This year, organizers ordered 200 bears and 200 tigers, which were gone in about an hour. The committee plans to order even more animals to stuff next year.

“We hope to raise $1,000 and 1,000 cans,” Stuckmeyer said.

On the final count, the fundraiser brought in $1,088 and 1,085 cans. The food bank will collect the cans and money today.

“We do our best to feed people,” Lonergan said.