On March 30th teddy bear delivery. From left to right. Cecilia Marie Hernandez, Melanie Rojas and Valerie Rojas

This time I had 2 helpers that teamed up with me to accomplish the project for hope. It was Melanie Rojas and her sister Valerie Rojas.

Valerie Rojas preparing for teddy bear delivery

I am so pleased for a great job they did. They collected teddy bears and toys from “New Light Baptist Church” located in Bloomfield, New Jersey. I want to thank everyone one there that donated towards this cause.

Teddy bears and toys being loaded into carts.

Nurses at the Joseph Sanzari Children’s hospital were so happy to receive this donation. They said it was so nice to bring a sick child a present just before Easter. They said that each child was going to receive a teddy bear as soon as they brought them in.

Melanie Rojas and her Sister Valerie Rojas did a great job. They helped deliver the bears as well. Their mom, Mrs. Rojas helped transporting the bears in her car. My Uncle Andrew Matulewicz also helped transport bears in his car. Our car was completely full as well.

Valerie Rojas and Cecilia getting ready to deliver teddy bears

We had a beautiful day. We enjoyed delivering the teddy bears because we know it will make sick children happy.

Teddy bear delivery a the Joseph Sanzari Children;s Hospital, Hackensack New Jersey on March 30th, 2013. Another job accomplished.

Melanie and Valerie Rojas offered me to help next time as well. I am glad they are willing to help towards my Project for hope.

I will start by telling you how many bears I have. I have 44 bears and 29 toys so far. Altogether I have 73 items. My friend Melanie Rojas collected some toys by mistake. We asked the Hospital and they said they will take them this time.

As I had written in another article, there is a giant elephant teddy bear among the crowd of teddy bears. Take a look at it!

My next donation is at the Joseph Sanzari Children’s Hospital, Hackensack, NJ on March 30^th, 2013.

I also love bears so much. I could show you some of my own collection. I have so many I can’t even count them! Just for the fun of it. Try and guess how many bears I have in the picture below put your guess in the comment section. There are no prizes, but it will be fun if you could guess it

Anyway, my favorite bear is in the bottom right corner in the picture. It is a teddy bear puppy in a sweater.

My dad was at the hospital but he already came home on February 28, 2013 and I was so happy

One last thing, my grandmother “Abuela” who is in Guatemala just had an addition to the family. A few days ago we had a new baby girl in the family! her name is Sofia. Take a look at her. She is so beautiful! I chose her name. Abuela was so happy that I was able to name her.

Let me know what you think of Sofia by commenting below.

]]> http://www.cecilia-marie.com/getting-ready-for-my-next-teddy-bear-donation-delivery/feed/ 3 http://www.cecilia-marie.com/collecting-bears-for-my-next-bear-drive/ http://www.cecilia-marie.com/collecting-bears-for-my-next-bear-drive/#comments Mon, 25 Feb 2013 04:05:02 +0000 Cecilia http://www.cecilia-marie.com/?p=533 Continue reading →]]> During the last couple month lots of things have happened.  I have been really sick since the beginning of December last year. I am going through multiple testing at the hospital. Besides, I am going for surgery on March 6, 2013. My tonsils and adenoids will be removed.  It has been difficult for me to sleep. My ENT physician recommended it after I did the sleep study test at the sleep study center.  I will be out of school for 2 weeks.  

Also, I turned 10 years old on January, 24^th. I enjoyed the family birthday lunch at my house.

I started collecting teddy bears and hope to deliver before Easter.   This time, I am planning to deliver them to Hackensack Hospital. They will hand them over to children that have surgery.

MELANIE ROJAS IS HELPING ME COLLECT BEARS THIS YEAR.

My friend Melanie Rojas, who is my friend and classmate, is helping me collect bears. She has already collected several bears and toys from her Church. It is amazing; she has done a great job. She has collected Teddy Bears in all shapes and sizes. Great job Melanie!  Among those stuffed animals, she’s got one that is so big; it is the size of a baby elephant. And, it was a stuffed baby elephant.

I love working with bears because they are fluffy and they are cuddly.

Have a happy week end and stay warm [It is getting cold!]

I have been sick again and I haven’t been able to write lately. So far I have been going to CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia). They have determined that my body pains are a certain kind of Fibromyalgia called AMP (Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain). They have seen several thousands of children with the same illness.

I have severe pain in my body that won’t stop going on, but with some physical therapy I can help adjust my body to it.

I have to follow a certain exercise therapy for a few months then I they will evaluate if my condition has improved.

I have also gone to a sleep study because I am having trouble sleeping comfortable at night. Hopefully they will figure out what is going on.  If they can help the sleep better, it will help me a lot.

Donate a teddy bear to a sick child – Rudolph

My friend Melanie Rojas will be helping me with the next bear donation drive. She will be collecting teddy bears from her Church, family, and her friends. I just started collecting bears again and soon will make it official to have another bear drive. My brother Cesar Michael will also help me carry on the next teddy bear drive.

   So far I have collected 7 bears.

My birthday is coming up on January 24^th. I am turning 10. My Dad`s and brother`s birthday are on January as well. My brother’s birthday is on January 9^th. My dad’s birthday is on the following day, January 10^th.

May you have a blessed New 2013!

During the last 2 weeks I have been really sick. My doctor says that I got a relapse on my Rheumatoid arthritis and Fibromyalgia. I even missed school for a couple of days.  My mommy took me to the doctor. Now I feel much better. I hope to start my next bear donation drive in a few months. I have been busy in school.

Anyway, today I colored a huge Pumpkin. My mom’s company has a Pumpkin decoration contest. I came up with an idea which I hope everyone likes. It was “PIKACHU.” It is a character from the Pokémon series. I hope we win.

My mom and I went to the craft store and bought the things that we needed. We purchased the yellow, black, red and white paint; and the brushes.

It was a little messy but I enjoyed painting the Pumpkin. My uncle Andrew helped me draw the mouth but I painted the entire pumpkin.

The ears were difficult to make.  I made them in the shape of cones. This is how it turned out. I hope you like it, here is a picture of it.

This is Pikachu from the Pokemon Series.

Here is a picture of one of our Halloween decorations on our lawn.  We displayed it last year. When the kids came to our house trick-o-treating they were so amazed. We decided to display it this year as well. I hope you like it as well.

Our Halloween lawn decoration. Elmo and his happy pumpkins!

Over the weekend, my brother Cesar Michael and I went to our school Halloween social event.  We had so much fun dancing, eating, and playing with our friends. We played tag, we danced to cool music. I danced so much that I got hungry again. Thanks to the Halloween mom’s that were in charge, they had cooked delicious white rice which was gluten-free. I am allergic to Wheat therefore I also need to maintain a healthy gluten-free diet.

2012 Halloween social at Saint Clare School. Cecilia Marie & Cesar Michael

We had so much fun, we played musical chairs, and I almost won. My brother Cesar Michael was among the winners of the best Halloween costumes.

I can’t wait for next year’s Halloween party!

I hope every one of you have a nice Halloween celebration as well!

You are welcome to place a comment below!

UPDATE:
I am so happy to announce that I DID win the Pumpkin Contest!!!
Cecilia. 

Cecilia Marie Hernandez, Center.- From left to right: her dad Cesar Hernandez, St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Child Life Fellow Kim Hudock, St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Child Life Coordinator Tiffany Shevchik, her mom Michele Hernandez, her Uncle Andrew Matulewicz, her brother Cesar Michael Hernandez.

We were greeted so nicely by Tiffany Shevchik, Child Life Coordinator, and, and by Kim Hudock, Child Life Fellow at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. I explained them that I was so happy to deliver the Teddy Bears and thank them for cooperating with me. They said that they were so happy that I thought of them. They usually don’t get many donations in the summer and that the sick children will be so happy to receive them.

From left to right- St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Child Life Fellow Kim Hudock, St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Child Life Coordinatior Tiffany Shevchik, and Cecilia Marie Hernandez.

I also would like to thank St. Joseph’s Healthcare System’s Chief Executive Officer, William A. McDonald, for giving me the “Junior Champion for Children” award Certificate. That was very nice. 

Tiffany and Kim said that they will definitely were going to start handing out the bears right away to sick children.

I am sure the sick children will enjoy having a new teddy bear. I hope the teddy bears will make them happy and give them hope. Each teddy bear has a special handwritten get well message for them.

St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Child Life Fellow Kim Hudock organizing teddy bears on Cart.

This one was a small donation. Thanks to friends and family that donated some of bears during the summer. Thanks also to my friends at Build-a-Bear, Paramus, New Jersey, for taking care of me very well every time I go to buy another bear. 

Cecilia Marie Hernandez being presented the “Junior Champion for Children” award certificate by Tiffany Shevchik and Kim Hudock.

I expect to have another teddy bear drive hopefully before the Christmas holiday. There are many family and friends that are willing to donate for my next one.

Junior Champion for Children awarded to Cecilia Marie Hernandez upon delivering 53 teddy bears to be distributed to sick children at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital, Paterson, NJ on Sept 7, 2012.

Please feel free to post a comment below!

My brother’s friend and my friend Cristina has been in a car accident with her family. They were driving in the car when a drunk driver hit their car from behind. The seats went back and hit Christina’s wrist. Her mother broke a rib, Cristiana broke her wrist and her father was still in the Hospital.

I gave Cristina a bear from my donation so that means I had 52 bears. Therefore, I will be bringing the sick children 51 bears. Cristina loved the bear. Her family was in the hospital and so she was. She qualified to receive a bear!  

 I hope you had a wonderful summer, and I hope all of you a happy school year!

September 3, 2012 – Last Day of summer! 

Happy last day of summer! I hope you enjoyed the summer!

On this last day of summer, we went to the Rutherford, NJ street sale. It had so many things to do. I wanted to get some bears there but they were used. Hospitals won’t allow any used bears.  My brother and I enjoyed a gluten-free cupcake.

Actually over the weekend, we were invited to celebrate our friend Mrs. Alecia Mastellone’s son Christopher’s birthday party celebration. Christopher turned 6 years old. We started off the party at Chuck E Cheese at Nanuet, New York. The following day we continued his birthday party celebration with a pool party. The pool nice heated. We had so much fun.

I hope everyone had a really good summer this year.

It went by really fast!

Happy last day of summer!

Thanks to everyone that donated a beautiful teddy bear to give a sick child hope.

I was able to deliver 101 bears. We brought them over on March 3^rd, 2012.

You could read the full chronicle of this project under “Cecilia’s Project for Hope.” you will be able to see pictures.

We were greeted by the nurse Elizabeth at the Pediatric department. She was so kind to us. He had to get some help to unload the teddy bears. There were 3 tall carts filled of bears and transported to a safe place in the hospital.

According to a letter received from the director of the Annual Giving foundation, all the bears were distributed to the sick children.

I wish I was able to see their smile, but I was not allowed to go up and deliver them myself for fear of spreading outside infection.

I hope the teddy bears will bring them a smile and hope. I know how sad it feels being in a hospital bed.

I hope to collect some more bears really soon and deliver them to other institutions.

May the sick children come back home soon with a smile!

Clifton Journal – front page – Cecilia’s project for Hope, March 9/2012

Clifton Journal – page 3 – Cecilia’s project for Hope, March 9/2012

Clifton Journal – page 3 – Cecilia’s project for Hope, March 9/2012

Clifton Journal – page 6 – Cecilia’s project for Hope, March 9/2012

NorthJersey.com-Cecilias-project-for-hope | Top Story | March 9th/2012

 Thanks to Adam Greenberg, Staff Writer at NorthJersey.com for writing this amazing article.

Chapter1. Dec28, 2011

One day, my parents, my brother and I were getting ready to go the mall. When we were in the mall we went to popular bear store. I was getting few things for myself and I also got one bear for a sick child in a children’s hospital.  Little did I know it would grow! I was cleaning my room and had ten bears that I didn’t want. My mom said we would wait till I had more bears to donate. It was a weekend! On Saturday, We went to Church. After Church I was talking to my friend Cristina. We were thinking of talking to Sister Joseph, the Principal of my school. We thought she might let us hand out a flyer that will ask the students to bring new bears to me so that we together can help make a difference. After a few days had passed, we talked to Sister Joseph, the principal of my school.  She said that it was okay to ask parents to participate.

© IronRodArt-Royce Bair (Nightscapes on Thursdays) foter.com – Flicker

Chapter 2. Jan29, 2012

After about 1 week of my initial plan, it was getting to be a very big thing. I asked my mom to help me with the project. My mom made copies of the flyer for my school. When everyone in my class saw my flyer they wanted to help. Even my teacher Mrs. B. asked me if she could take the flyer home so that she could remind herself to buy a bear!

Chapter 3. Feb5, 2012

For some reason I knew that my project would get bigger. By Feb 5, 2012 which was the Super Bowl weekend, I had gotten several bears from my school friends. One was very big, larger than a pizza, larger than 2 pizzas. The reason I am doing this? It’s because I have asthma, arthritis, fibromyalgia and sugar problems. I have had 3 different x-rays and many other tests done in the hospital. Some tests I have a lot of trouble naming them.

While I was in the hospital, I saw several children that were sick as well.
I have their backs! I know how it feels to be sick. I want to make a difference. I want to give them “hope.” There are a lot of sick kids in the world so I got to start somewhere. All my life I have always been thinking about doing something to make a difference. And now, I have my chance to do it. I know it is my mission that Jesus made me to do.

Chapter4. Feb20, 2012

Now I have 36 bears and I am so excited I wish I could get 50 or 100 but I just wish I could help 50 or 100 children.

My mom has contacted Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, NJ and told them about my project. They are happy to accept the bears. I will update this posting.

Chapter5. Feb24, 2012

So far the bear count is 70. Here are some pictures of the cute bears:

Cecilia’s Project For Hope | beautiful white teddy bear!

Chapter6. Feb26, 2012

It is the last day of our weekend. Our teacher, Mrs.B, left to have her babies (twin girls). We have a new teacher. I have 70 bears now. It was a great day until I fell. I was in the park and we were playing tag. Because of my medical conditions, I fell off the playground ladder. I was climbing and my legs gave out. I hit my head on the bar. We went home and I rested. When you have fibromyalgia your body hurts. So by falling off the ladder, it makes it more painful.

Before this happened, we went to the store to get bags to put bears in. We found everything we needed when we got home I put all the bears in the bag. Then afterwards it was lunch time. After lunch we went to the park. That is when I fell.

After returning home from the park, I rested at home. Surprisingly, we got a phone call from my friend Cristina’s mom. They were coming down to drop off 2 big and amazing fluffy bears. Cristina is in my brother’s 7^th grade class. The bears were so big!!!!  I had an extra bag from the store and I knew it would not fit. Therefore, we need to find bigger bags to put them in.

The new total count is 72 bears!!! I might reach 100 bears which is my 2^nd goal. So it was a full day. Christina’s mom told us that other moms will be donating more bears soon.

Chapter7. Feb27, 2012

It is Feb 27, 2012 and I have 74. I just got 2 more bears. – One Mickey and one Mini Mouse. That is how I got 74 bears. Did I forget to mention that the people from my mom’s work are donating bears to? They are also helping out with my project.  I got some of the bears from one place, the mall!! They have a bear store there.
 I also forget to mention that on Feb24, 2012 my mom, my friend Cristina, Mrs. Latino (Cristina’s mom) and my brother went to the mall to get more bears. When we got there, we went to the bear store at the mall. We first looked at items that were on sale. Then we looked at some clothes. After that we looked at the bears and selected the ones that we could buy. I got a Velvet teddy. My brother Cesar Michael mentioned that he wanted to get a bear called “Cele-bear-tion”. We also got the “Almond cub,” and the “honey comb cub.” People at my mom’s work gave us money to buy bears for them.
My friend Cristina got a bear called “Kisses for you puppy,” and “The Lucky Plaid teddy.” The store had a sale on “BOGO mines,” buy 1 get 1 free!
 Cristina also got the “Charlie Brown” and “Woodstock BOGO mines.” I also picked the “Boadecia” and “Lovelace” from the new movie Happy Feet2. While they were stuffing them, I saw the girl, the sales attendant that helped me a few weeks ago. She remembered my name. She told me that whoever gets the bear gets the pin!! I was donating it all!! When we came out of the store, people at the mall were saying to each other “Look at all those bears.” We were carrying so many boxes. When we got to the car, all the bags and bears filled the whole trunk!! When we got home, it was 6:00 PM, my brother and I check out our member card so see if we had enough points to get a free bear. Unfortunately, we needed to spend $7 more dollars to get the free bear! I will update this posting. 

  As of Saturday March 3rd the bear count was: 101

Chapter8. Mar3, 2012 

It is a rainy day!!! We are donating the bears at 11:00 in the morning. Right now it is 8:00 AM. When we get there, we have to notify security. Most amazingly, I GOT 101 BEARS!

Yesterday Friday March 2^nd, we went to the mall to buy extra bears because some people at my mom’s work gave money so that we could purchase bears. We had a half day at school. When my mom came home from work, she brought two bags full of bears. By the time it was 6:00 PM, I had so much to do. I had to get the bears ready by 8:00PM which is the time I get ready for bed. I actually had 100 bears by 5:30PM but later my Uncle/Godfather Andrew said that his co-worker Patty had also donated a bear. It was a cute bear. That is how I got to collect 101 Bears.

Chapter9, Mar3, 2012

The Bears find a Home!

We left home at 10:00 to deliver the bears. We started putting the bears in the cars and tried to fit them in 2 cars. We filled 2 the cars! Two cars were not enough so we had to wait for Mrs. Latino who was also helping us. Mrs. Latino’s car was also filled with bears. We filled 3 cars with bears!  We drove on the road for 15 minutes. When we arrived, there were a lot ambulances parked on the front of the hospital. My mom went in to advise security that we were there. They were expecting us. My mom had communicated with Kathleen Minarik who is the Director of the Annual Giving & Foundation Operations; she had told us that when we got there we had to ask for Mary Elizabeth in the Pediatric department because she was off on Saturday.

Once Mary Elizabeth met us, she called for help. The help person brought a big cart or wagon. We brought all the bears in, 101 bears to be exact.  We actually needed a second wagon. We filled the 2^nd wagon too. 

The nurse, Mary Elizabeth thanked us and said that the sick children will be very happy to receive a bear. In fact, she said “I know a little boy who will be very happy to receive a bear. You will make his day.” It is amazing to hear such words. Mary Elizabeth also said that he will be the first one to get a bear. My heart was filled with joy!! We took some pictures. After delivering the bears, my dad and mom took all of us out for lunch. We had so much fun!

Hopefully, I will do it again some other time. Next time I would love to ask people at Church as well.

Thanks to everyone for your help. Your bear donation means a lot to a sick child. Thanks for helping accomplish “Cecilia’s Project for Hope.”

I would like to give credit to the following people:

First of all, thanks to all the people that donated and made this project possible. Thanks to all the students at Saint Clare School, my mom’s co-workers at Sodexo and Mercedes Benz, family and friends.

Without your help, this project would have not been possible. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!

Next, I would like to thank my dad, my mom, my brother Cesar Michael, my friend Christina Latino, Mrs. Geri Latino (Cristina’s mom), my friend Emily, my Uncle/ Godfather Andrew, my Babci (grandmother).

Bear Delivery Pictures:

Hello!!!

Mrs. Geri Latino

Our friend Cristina Latino, my brother Cesar Michael, Me, Nurse Mary Elizabeth and my Uncle Andrew

Until our next bear donation, Thank you!

Post a comment below!