Valley nonprofit Comfort Bears in a Catastrophe is collecting donations right now to help meet the emotional needs of children in southern California who lost their homes in the devastating wildfires.
There have been many drives and donation opportunities to get the essentials — like food, water, hygiene products, and clothes — to victims in the past week. But, the nonprofit's founder who's also an Arizona State University graduate, Mimi Hymel, told ABC15 that oftentimes, the emotional needs of children get overlooked during the immediate stages of natural disaster recovery.
She founded Comfort Bears in a Catastrophe in 2020 as a way to fill that gap.
"We've sent over 15,000 stuffed animals to different disasters across the country, like, we just sent some hurricane Helene, and now the California wildfires," Hymel said. "Unfortunately, we've been kind of busy lately."
Each stuffed animal they send comes with a handwritten card created by volunteers from all across the country, reminding kids who have lost just about everything to not lose hope.
"A lot of organizations and people focus on essential items, but, as a child, you don't really understand the severity of the situation," she said. "Those essential items are, of course, essential, but what children really miss is that stuffed animal, that favorite toy."
Hymel knows because she's lived it. In 2005, she lost her own home to Hurricane Katrina.
"I remember just being up. I couldn't sleep at night. I was scared. I just was crying. I wanted that comfort item," she said. "Unfortunately, I know a lot of children in California are feeling the same way, and so we're trying to get as many bears out there as we can."
If a toy seems trivial amidst such widespread loss, think again.
Uplifting Arizona
Share your stories of hope and celebration! Have an uplifting story from your Arizona community?
This week, I heard from Palisades wildfire survivor Wendy Kawasaki, who's a single mom of two boys and just lost her home.
She got a notification from her sons' school to pick them up immediately after the fire broke out, but got stuck in gridlock while trying to drive out of her neighborhood.
"It was a catastrophe, so people were running by crying, and it was a big scene, so it was traumatizing," Kawasaki said. "Eventually, the firemen told us to leave our vehicles and abandon them and just walk down to the ocean, which wasn't too much further down."
She was able to find her sons and get everyone to safety after another parent helped pick them up. Eventually, she learned their home was gone.
"We had a four-foot-tall, beautiful Buddha welcoming people on our property," she said. "There are pictures from emergency, and the only thing left standing beside my chimney, like it's literally all ashes, is that Buddha."
She said while her 7- and 10-year-old sons can't quite process the magnitude of the loss, she can see the loneliness and sadness in them after losing their community.
"Once we got to a store, the very first item we bought was a stuffed animal for each of my children," she said. "To this day, that is the one thing that they're holding on to more than anything, and they sleep with them, if we go in the car they go, they come in the car with us. They named them right away."
Kawasaki agrees with Hymel that these small, stitched tokens of love can help ease a young, hurting heart.
"I just think it gives them something to hold onto when they don't know what to say."
To donate, visit the organization's website or Amazon wishlist.
They are also partnering with Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers to collect stuffed animals and money at restaurant locations across the Valley.
