Daddy leaving for Iraq gives a special gift of Patches the Bear

Tonight , MommyPR - Launched a very special Review/ Giveaway to help two Charities Get the word out about Supporting Military Children. The second chariety is to help fight Child Abuse. I joined forces with Dreamcatchers For Child Abuse to help promote the need to understand child abuse and how we need to do so much more to protect these children. Child Abuse is a Cause near and dear to my heart and I feel Blessed to know Sandra Potter and Dreamcatchers For Abused Children. Sandra is an amazing woman who has taken her fear and devastation of her own child being sexually abused and has started a very active crusade to stop Child Abuse in it’s tracks. Sandra introduced me to MommyPR and this Bear Review and Giveaway is very exciting! Please take the time to visit bot h Dreamcatchers For Child Abuse and MommyPR. Thank you and Patches Hugs to all!!!!

I believe that a good starting point for my first Blog is my signature about Patches the Bear.

“Patches is more than a lovable bear. He is the Spirit of a child’s innocence. Patches is a gift of love created to empower our children to endure challenges, through life’s journey of happy times and painful moments. Thank you for taking the first step to help a child gain understanding, enabling them to express their emotions.”

It is that “Spirit” within that allows  a child to be open to the world and create as his/her imagination gives them wings to fly and explore. It is a wonderful quality that children possess and we adults need to find again. I recently launched the “Pennies For  Patches” campaign to help the children of our military. While this “War thing” causes many unpleasant conversations and uncomfortable moments, the resilience of  some of these children is just amazing. In the last two years, I have sent Patches to children who have lost a Mom or Dad to this War. There  are those children enduring the trials of a soldier, Daddy or Mommy with PTSD, with anger issues and divorce rising. Or perhaps Mom or Dad is a wounded warrior who doesn’t look like Mommy or Daddy anymore. Then there are the multiple deployments, where they say good bye and live in fear everyday that Mom or Dad may not return. While many are showing the signs of the stress on their emotional health, some are amazing in their resilience. In fact they are truly inspiring. And for the most part they are under the age of six. I believe this will be the start of a blog that will send you into a range of emotions and the question is…Are you as brave as these children? Can you come back and endure “life’s journey of happy times and painful moments”?  Can we take the first step together to help us all gain an understanding in our emotions and express them in a healthy way, that helps to support these children? And perhaps an amazing thing will happen and we will transform back to a time when we were more open and resilient to better support the environment around us and our children. Please, come back tomorrow to hear about an amazing little boy named Dallas. “Patches Hugs” to all !

A Patches Ambassador

As promised, tonight is all about a special boy named Dallas who lives in North Carolina. I was contacted by his Mom, Tracy, who wanted to run a “Pennies for Patches” Campaign with her Home School Group. I was very excited initially and then totally intrigued the more she told me about her son. Approximately two years ago, Dallas was six years of age; he received a gift from a friend. The present was a military uniform and combat boots, something most little boys would love to have to play soldier out in the yard with their friends, which he did. The next gift he received at a later date was a WWll Helmet and a backpack and his collection has grown from there. Now Dallas takes his “pretend soldier” training very seriously. You see he wants to be a soldier, a medic to be exact, when he grows up. He has a heart for these men and women who go off to war and serve their country and he has a heart for God. Dallas wants to help save soldiers in battle one day, to be exact save their bodies and save their souls. I was truly in awe of this little boy, an eight year old, who says, “Mom I can’t smile in all my pictures, because Army men aren’t supposed to smile, they are working.”  Now Dallas is very vocal about how he feels about the military and his country. When the family or he and his Mom are out and Dallas may see a couple of soldiers he will beg his Mom to please let him go over and talk to them. The soldiers in turn are so Blessed by this little boy making them feel special and he tells them how he appreciates what they are doing to protect us. The tears are streaming down my face at this point for how poignant this picture would be to see in person. Dallas has no opinion about politics or whether there should be a war or not. All he knows is that there is one and these brave men and women are fighting the battle for our freedom. Dallas also doesn’t tip toe around when he supports these soldiers, nor does he worry about what someone will think if he does speak up and support them. The “innocence of a child” reminds us of how life should be. Children remind us of the present moment, not yesterday, nor tomorrow, but the right here and now. No holding back! Now Dallas does not have a perfect life all of the time, just like most of us on this planet. He has tough times when he is upset or angry but his ability to reason and focus his emotions is inspiring to say the least. Dallas says that God has him in training, and for every bad thing, he says they are just bullets firing at him. When he prays hard he knows he has a “bullet proof vest on.” All this training he feels is preparing him to be a better soldier one day. I sent a Patches Bear down to Dallas and I just received an email from his Mom telling me they bought a military uniform for Patches, complete with dog tags. Tracy is actually trying to have a matching BDU uniform just like the soldiers wear made for Patches. When I do an update on our little Ambassador Dallas I am sure it will be complete with his matching pal Patches and his BDU’s! Also in another Blog we will talk about children of the military families and why Patches does not wear a uniform, but this is not applicable to Dallas. Truly, Dallas is and will be a Blessing to so many who will not otherwise hear those words of support and appreciation. One of the main reasons I started this campaign was to hopefully remind people that these families sacrifice so much. Dallas in his kindness and obvious “over-riding” of the negative I am sure he hears out there in the world about the war and our military is doing the loving and kind thing that we all need to reach out and do, regardless of politics or opinions. Can you imagine what a gift we could give to our children by doing the loving and kind act? We never know who may be in ear shot of someone speaking negatively about the war. There is a very good chance there is someone nearby, possibly even a child who has a Mom or Dad over there in Iraq or Afghanistan, living in fear every day, wondering if they will return. The other part of this picture is that these families are separated for very long periods of time, because they believe in what they are doing to protect their country. So I have a really big favor to ask….Could we please try to be more like Dallas, and do the loving and kind act. Support our soldiers and tell them when you see them. And if a child tells you his Mom or Dad is over there, praise him for being such a brave soldier at home. These children, with so much to carry on their shoulders truly are our “Youngest Heroes.” Until next time, “Patches Hugs to all.”

The “GLAD GAME”
Many years ago I saw a movie called Pollyanna. Now at the time I was a young girl and although I understood the basic concept of the movie, it was not until much later in life I truly understood the depth of attitude, which is what this movie was all about. For those who are not familiar with it or the Classic book, basically Pollyanna’s philosophy of life centers on what she calls “The Glad Game”, an optimistic attitude she learned from her father. The game consists of finding something to be glad about in every situation. It originated in an incident one Christmas when Pollyanna, who was hoping for a doll in the missionary barrel, found only a pair of crutches inside. Making the game up on the spot, Pollyanna’s father taught her to look at the good side of things—in this case, to be glad about the crutches because “we don’t need them.” Now Pollyanna ends up living with her very wealthy but stern and strict Aunt, and begins winning souls and teaching everyone the “Glad Game” and winning over even the most pessimistic of this small New England town.
Life was really happy for awhile and then Pollyanna’s enthusiasm and positive attitude is put to the test when she is hit by a car and looses the use of her legs. Pollyanna is now herself struggling to find something to be glad about in this terrible situation. It is then the town that comes together and all begin visiting Pollyanna to tell her how she has encouraged them and improved their lives. Pollyanna eventually comes to a place where she agrees she can play the “Glad Game” and be happy she had legs at one time. Now this is a story so of course, Pollyanna’s Aunt married the rich Doctor in town and they take Pollyanna to a special hospital where she will have surgery that will give her back the use of her legs. “Happy Ending.” Now the question is, what does it take to help a child who will not regain the use of his legs or bring back someone she loves???
Every day we have the opportunity to have compassion and patience, and do or say something good for someone, as you may never have the opportunity again for that particular circumstance. There are a few lines from an Emily Dickson poem that say,
“If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
“If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.”
As adults we recognize how truly difficult the “Glad Game” is and how many times there just does not seem to be anything to be glad about in a tough circumstance. I am witnessing this everyday as I receive the names of our Fallen Heroes and then I have to send Patches the Bear with his little emotion face helpers to their children, just like Pollyanna, who cannot imagine their world without their Mom or Dad. These children are so amazing to me as they eventually begin to pull themselves together like little soldiers and try to move forward in their young lives. While the “Glad Game” may be a little unrealistic when it is the death of a parent the child is dealing with, the encouragement and the love and support is the same. Think of all the times when you were sad or upset about something and those little faces come up to you, your children, and say, “it’s going to be alright….” Children have a natural instinct to comfort first, and not think too much about the “unpleasantness” of the circumstances. We need to find that childlike mindset and reach out and be encourager’s for those in pain, distress, and devastation as the opportunity may not come again. Please take the time to thank a soldier or volunteer to do something to encourage and show you care. It is truly an honor and a gift to Bless another. Thank you and Patches Hugs to all.


Faces of Our Fallen Heroes Children

Fuzzy Hugs and a Pocket Full Of Feelings

Had anyone told me three years ago that I would have created and manufactured a Teddy Bear with little emotion faces to help children talk about their feelings I would have said, “I don’t think so.” Alas, here we are three years later and Patches the Bear and his eight emotion faces are out there in the world, making homes with thousands of children and delivering fuzzy hugs and a pocket full of feelings. Now I knew there must be a reason I would have said, “I don’t think so,” and that would be for the simple fact I would not want to be the one to open that can of worms in a million years. In order to have children openly talk about their feelings and emotions would mean that we adults have to be ready for anything that may come out of their sweet little mouths with total innocence and wonder. I am a mother of two grown children and that is a totally scary place to be with anyone never mind a child, your child who trusts you to be honest and guide them down this path of communication. Since I am one who never really began to communicate until I was 34 years old and my children at that point were 14 years and 7 years, well there is quite a bit of time where I may or may not have handled situations as I should have in the communication category. Simply said I was an abuse survivor with mega issues and did well just to keep my own life together and not leaking holes that I couldn’t plug. Ah, but you see there is one catch with that scenario of keeping the holes plugged and that is eventually the hole keeps popping up again and again and pretty soon one strong hit or storm and the whole scenario comes apart. So what was I thinking when I openly stepped out there when my world came tumbling down and began to speak up for children? Initially, I’ll tell you exactly what it was. It was cathartic for me to try and save other children, although I didn’t know that at the time, as I was to busy trying to counter all the attention now falling on the brokenness of Kathylee. Yikes, there was no way I wanted to deal with all the emotional baggage from the past and especially talk about it and who I was at the time and the work I needed to do on me. NO WAY!!! And yes I now had two children of my own that I was struggling to not be an over protective parent and to allow my children to fall and to make choices on their own so they would develop a sense of self and the confidence to thrive and flourish in this world. The problem comes when we try to build a strong foundation for our family and children, and our own foundation is based in misbelieves, because of fear and pain in the past. So there it is….that can of worms I didn’t want to open for myself or anyone else. Here lies the dilemma. I have spent over twenty years working on myself and realizing that you can survive and “Have A Wonderful Life,” but we have to do the work, and it does come down to communication and feelings and how we perceive ourselves in the world around us. Children are always the future and we the adults, prepare them for that future. We live in a time that has become very scary on many levels for the adults who recognize the happenings on our planet. Now take that feeling and imagine how much more frightening it is for a child if they cannot truly open up and express and talk about how they are feeling. Exactly. I have learned so much from watching and listening to the children Patches has found a home with and it has been a real eye opener just how much children really do understand, but do not say for fear of “upsetting us,” the adults in their lives. I do not know where this will lead us but I would like to invite you to follow this blog for the next several months and maybe a year as I share with you the journey I have been on and what I have seen with these truly brave children and the issues they are dealing with or not and what we can do to help these children be ok with talking about their feelings and how to constructively deal with them so they can grow up healthy, emotional adults. Will we save the world, probably not, but if we can begin to make a shift in this whole communication thing and we start saving children who would otherwise parish from abuse, neglect, drugs, alcohol or even suicide, then we have done something really useful in preserving the future of our country. So, if you’re feeling  courageous and want to do something to really make a difference in the future, make the commitment here and now to follow us, through the good times and the tough times with , “Fuzzy Hugs and a Pocket Full of Feelings.” Next post will be Thursday night. Until then, Patches Hugs to all.

Thank you for participating in the “Pennies For Patches” Campaign:

The official Launch Date is September 11, 2009, but you may start your campaign at any time and the recommended length of time is six to 8 weeks. Most important is to contact us by phone or email so we can send your containers and your kit!

This campaign is about lending emotional support for the children of the military families.

Patches Kids & Patches the Bear are dedicated to advocating for children, guiding them to find their voice.

Click here to download information about our Patches campaign.

Thank you in advance and God Bless You for supporting these children!

]]> http://www.patcheskids.org/?feed=rss2&page_id=41 http://www.patcheskids.org/?page_id=7 http://www.patcheskids.org/?page_id=7#comments Tue, 12 May 2009 15:13:50 +0000 admin http://www.patcheskids.org/?page_id=7

Contact Us
Getting in Touch with Us is Easy!

Mailing Address:
2865 South Eagle Rd.
#390
Newtown, PA 18940

Phone:
(215) 345-4126

Email:
Kathylee Forrester (Founder)
Klforrester@patcheskids.org

Joshua Forrester (VPO & Webmaster)
Support@patcheskids.org

Childhelp is pleased to begin using Patches in our Good-Touch/Bad-Touch® personal body safety curriculum. The expressive faces allow our classroom facilitator to reinforce in a positive, age-appropriate manner the key messages vital for kids to learn. More information on Good-Touch/Bad-Touch is available at www.childhelp.org/gtbt or www.goodtouchbadtouch.com
Patches is also used by therapists working with children in Childhelp’s advocacy centers and its residential treatment centers.
Mark Publow, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
Childhelp National Headquarters
15757 N. 78th Street
Scottsdale, Arizona, 85260
Telephone: (480) 922-8212
Fax: (480) 922-7061

Janice Keener, Psy.D.
Pediatric Psychology Post Doctoral Fellow
Department of Pediatric Psychology
The Children’s Hospital of Orange County
Telephone: 714-532-8482

Janet R. Marquis, Ph.D.
MPSC Contractor
PA NG State Youth Coordinator

I became interested in your website and checked it out here at home. I read your biography from start to finish and cried through every word of it! I can’t begin to tell you how I feel about the wonderful things you have done for this worthy cause. There is far too much child abuse of all types in this world in which we live. I am totally fortunate to not have been a victim of such abuse as you and way too many others.

My conversation with you touched my heart deeply and I felt the need to share those feelings with you.

Thank you from my heart!
CM

Elbert and Carla Lee
Proud parents of Winston, 5 and Kendall 3

Child Life Specialists Testimonials:

Samantha Palmieri MA,CCLS
Special Events Coordinator
Child Life, Education & Creative Arts Therapy
“The hospital uses PATCHES as a therapeutic tool to get kids to talk about their feelings. The bear comes with eight “emotion” faces that represent different feelings, such as happy, afraid, angry and cool. Children are encouraged to put the appropriate faces into the bear’s front cargo pocket so that it might initiate a conversation about that moment’s emotions.”
“When you’re younger, it’s hard to label your feelings sometimes. What PATCHES does is give us a way to educate kids about what feelings are and what emotions go along with those feelings, so kids can start to be able to label them,” said Samantha Palmieri, the special programs coordinator at the hospital.
The nurses and doctors all know that the kids have PATCHES bears. Palmieri said she tells the staff, “If she’s reticent to tell you that she’s feeling happy or sad or her pills taste yucky or she’s hopeful, you can look in PATCHES’ pocket.” And the kids really latch on to the stuffed animal, Palmieri said. “There are kids that will carry him around everywhere they go after they’re introduced to him,” she said. “There was a patient who got one a couple of years ago during initial diagnosis. Every time she came back for an appointment, she brought PATCHES with her.”

“A 3 year old little girl was brought into our ED for a suspected sexual abuse exam. While in the hospital, her mother had to be removed from the hospital to be admitted to a Psychiatric Institution, leaving this little girl alone. Clearly, this is a traumatic scenario in multiple ways for a 3 year old little girl. I met this child the next morning when she awoke and was alone. Upon meeting her, I knew Patches was just the friend that she needed for her hospital stay and her departure. I asked her if I could introduce her to a friend of mine named Patches, and she gleefully responded, Yes!

I brought in Patches and they were fast friends. This little girl reached out, took Patches into her arms and stated, “I am going to take good care of him.” She hugged him tight and I asked her if I could teach her a little something about Patches. I proceeded to explain the different feelings on Patches feelings cards, which this little girl carefully repeated. After we talked about each feeling, she stated, “I think he feels happy now.” I asked her why and she stated, “because I am his friend.” I agreed, he looked happy and so did she. A few minutes later, we walked to the playroom. On our walk we saw one of the ED attending physicians who was introduced to Patches. This little girl remembered every single feeling card and for the last card, hopeful, she said, “this one means he feels really sunny!” And with that, we walked with Patches hand in hand to the ambulance bay in our ED to see if the sun was shining. The sun was shining and this little girl had a new friend to hold her hand through this awful adventure. ”
- Brittany Luther, Child Life Specialist

“I had 2 patients who absolutely LOVED the patches bear along with the bracelet with emotions–it was a great way to get out of patients how they were feeling with out actually having to use their words. Patches also was a great comfort item for both patients especially because they had little/no family support. Both decided the box that patches came in could be used as his bed! We love patches!:)”
-Kelly Conlin, Child Life Specialist

Hebah Elhak
Annandale High School

Thank you to our Sponsors!

If you would like to become a Corporate Sponsor for Patches the Bear,
please contact us Directly @ 215-345-4126 or KLForrester@PatchesKids.org

All of the sponsors listed below have helped bring Patches the Bear to life, & to children in different communities.

Military Personnel Services Corp. - Arlington, VA
The Lebutti Family
Marcoux / Singley Family
The Army National Guard/Docupak
Tony Scelzi Transport
Edward Johnson & Kathylee Forrester
Sunoco
Richard S. Davis & Family
United Way of Bucks County, PA
The McDonald Family
The Escaleira Family
Barbara Welsch
Stratton Family Chiropractic Wellness Center
The Horvitz Family
Manheim - Philadephia Auto Auction

Doylestown Fitness
Foundations Community Partnership

“PATCHES ANGELS” - FOR CHILDREN”S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA

Gres and Kaluzny Land Development, LLC
Harrington Family
Donna Cunningham
Jack Shaw
Dr. & Mrs. Gene Levin
Judith Hughes
Lopata Family
Conahay Family
Harwanko Family
Warrington Women’s Club
Kraus Family
Cope Family - In Honor of - “Happy Birthday Morgan”
Kirk Family
Ciandella Family
Vincent G. Kupsch
Stacy DeAngelis, M.S.
Cohen Family
Kathy Layton

A Special Note From the Founder, Kathylee Forrester

We need to recognize that our soldier’s children are also feeling the repercussions of this war. We need to support these military families and the sacrifice they are making for our freedom. There are over 700,000 children under the age of five dealing with a parent being deployed and absent from their family for up to a year at a time. This has not happened since WWII. As civilians, it can be very easy to take for granted the day to day interaction we have with our families. For the service family, they may only have a few weeks together before Mommy or Daddy leaves again for an extended period of time.

When a soldier is deployed his/her whole family is affected. Patches has enlisted and can help these children find their voice and talk about their feelings. Patches can even make it easier for Mom or Dad, Grandma or Grandpa, to start the difficult conversation by using the little emotion helpers, the faces of a child’s emotions.

We are mobilizing a nationwide campaign to support these children and the need for their little voices to be heard and understood, also. We need everyone’s help to make this happen and to be thankful for the courage and sacrifice these families and soldiers are making for us.

It does not matter what you believe about the war, this is about the children and the families and all they are going through on a daily basis. The reality is that we are at war and these children especially, are the future of our America! These families need us and we need to know how these children are feeling so we can help them survive and become emotionally healthy adults. Remember, they are our future.

We need volunteers in every state and we will be sending out emails, information packages, raising funds and bringing Patches home to these children who need his help to communicate how they are feeling. Please sign up by email (go to contact us) to volunteer in a small or large way, but please, help us help our soldier’s children.

Thank you so much,
Kathylee Forrester & Patches the Bear

By MARIE BURKITT
Bucks County Courier Times

Patches the Bear aims to help kids.

You can meet him Sunday at the Northampton Valley Country Club in Richboro, where he’ll help to raise money for children’s charities.

“Patches is all about understanding children’s emotions. He was designed to help children identify their feelings now so that when they are adults, they will be able to better communicate with the world,” said incest survivor Kathylee Forrester, the creator of Patches and the founder of Living Light Kids

The plush toy bear has eight extra “faces” designed to get kids talking about their feelings, said Forrester.

Each face expresses a different emotion. The child puts the face that best expresses his emotion into a pocket of the bear’s cargo pants.

Then a parent asks to look at the face and talks with the child about the emotion the face represents.

Forrester created Living Light Kids and its mascot, Patches, in August. She said the nonprofit organization is dedicated to helping kids properly express their emotions and feelings.

Forrester’s father was convicted of molesting her and two siblings. He’s serving three consecutive life terms for the crimes against his children.

She has been active in youth charities for 15 years and has worked to raise awareness of child sexual abuse and the laws designed to protect kids, including Megan’s Law.

Forrester said Living Light Kids is her new mission.

She believes Patches will help children better communicate with others before it is too late.

“I guess I’m just a believer. There is always good that comes from those bad things that happen to us in life. If my father had not done the terrible things to me and my siblings, Patches would not have been created to help other children now,” Forrester said. “I want to help as many children as I can. If we save one, that’s something.”

By KARA FITZPATRICK
Bucks County Courier Times

He’s not your average teddy bear.

Yes, he’s soft, cute and cuddly. But Patches the bear, unveiled Sunday during a reception at the Northampton Valley Country Club, also helps children communicate their feelings.

Patches, a brown furry bear clad in blue overalls, comes complete with eight emotion faces - happy, sad, frustrated, cool, hope, angry, afraid and yucky. Children can place the emotion they’re experiencing in the bear’s front pocket as a way to comfortably communicate their feelings.

“Just because (children) aren’t saying anything doesn’t mean they don’t feel it,” said Kathylee Forrester, the bear’s creator and founder of Living Light Kids, a children’s advocacy organization.

As a child, Forrester was molested by her father. For the past 15 years, she has been working to raise awareness of child sexual abuse and the importance of protecting youth.

Growing up, she recalls using a stuffed animal to air her feelings.

“I had a stuffed animal, a little lamb, that I told all of my secrets,” she said.

Using her past as a guide, she came up with the concept of Patches, which she hopes will become a widespread method for childhood expression.

Dozens attended Patches’ debut. Forrester said the bears will be distributed to a handful of local agencies, including Head Start, Lower Bucks YMCA and YWCA, Family Service Association, American Red Cross Homeless Shelter, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and more. United Way of Bucks County is assisting in the effort.

But that’s just the beginning. Forrester, who has placed an initial order for 10,000 bears to be manufactured, hopes that Patches will be distributed far and wide as a way to encourage youth to share their feelings.

“He can be used literally for any child,” she said, adding that people have suggested she scribe the emotion faces in Braille so blind children can benefit from the toy.

Sharon Barker, United Way of Bucks County senior vice president, said she was motivated to support Patches because of the communication he promotes.

“I think any way a child can express themselves is a good thing,” Barker said, adding that United Way has given Living Light Kids $1,000 toward distributing bears countywide.

Robert Sasson, a Newtown-based pediatrician with The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Kids First division, said Patches is a great idea.

“Quite often, children are not very vocal but they recognize faces,” Sasson said, adding that, at his practice, he uses a similar mechanism to learn children’s feelings.

“I think it’s a great idea to teach children words associated with feelings,” he said. “The bear represents a comfort item as well as a communication tool.”

In addition, Patches teaches children a very elementary but important lesson - “that it’s OK to have emotions,” Sasson said.

By KATHLEEN E. CAREY
Delco Times

Patches, the big, brown-eyed furry bear, was embraced by young and old alike Tuesday in his Delaware County debut. Sixteen Patches bears were distributed to the Chichester elementary and middle schools Tuesday for use in their nurse and guidance offices. The bear comes with a set of eight face patches displaying different emotions. Children can use these to describe how they feel, especially in times of trauma or when dealing with physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Accompanying journals will be available in the next few weeks so students can write or draw what’s on their minds.

Patches was the brainchild of child advocate Kathylee Forrester, a Bucks County resident who was instrumental in lobbying for the Megan’s Law sex offender registration network.

While searching through the Internet one day, Lesley Lane of Upper Chichester found the bears featured on CN8. Lane holds many positions, including owner/operator of Andrea’s Attic, but also the Andrea O’Donnell Children’s Trust.

That organization was founded after the 1994 death of Lane’s 27-year-old adopted daughter, who was killed in San Diego by an estranged boyfriend. Last year, the group provided 20 scholarships to area students and distributed free books in schools. It offers clothing and household assistance for needy families.

Combining the trust’s mission of helping children with O’Donnell’s love of animals, especially her Teddy bear, the Patches cause seemed natural. So Lane wanted to introduce them to Delaware County schools.

“If we can get these bears into Chichester,” she said, “then we will lead the way. One way or another, we are going to put Patches all over the place. We have to do what we can to get Patches where he needs to be.”

After purchasing the initial six, Lane approached Sun Oil Co., which funded the purchase of another 11 for Chichester schools, Holy Saviour School and the Marcus Hook Head Start program.

Tuesday, Lane and Forrester delivered them in a Hyundai Sonata and a Ram 2500 van.

At Linwood Elementary, the pair were met with welcome signs and smiley faces. When they walked through the doors, they were given greeting cards made by the students.

“Thank you for helping the kids in our community,” one child wrote as the greetings were decorated with flowers, bears and hearts.

Linwood guidance counselor Gary Juroski planned to add Patches to his menagerie of five. “The existing puppets I’ve had a while so the new addition is thankful,” he said.

“It’s just so universal,” Linwood Elementary Principal Judith Edwards said of the bear.

Forrester agreed.

When she designed the bear, she wanted him to convey a non-threatening demeanor. “Since he’s supposed to represent the innocence of a child, I wanted him to be trustworthy of a child,” Forrester said.

She wanted him to portray the idea that “It’s OK. It’s safe to talk to me.”

“How does Patches make you feel?” Edwards asked a class that afternoon.

“Happy!” one boy shouted.

One little girl scooped him up and proudly took Patches to each of her classmates to inspect.

Over at Chichester Middle School, teacher Ed Matthew plans to use Patches in his life skills class every day.

“I think Patches will jump into our morning routines and help us tell more of our stories and tell more of our feelings,” he said.

Eighth-grader Annette Torres agreed. “I think it’s a really good opportunity for kids here at Chichester to have Patches,” she said.

Forrester said Patches represented a new endeavor for her.

“When I was an advocate, a lot of it was legislative work,” she said. “That’s the difference. With this, I get to see the end result. It’s exciting. He is going places I didn’t imagine and he’s doing things I didn’t imagine.”

Patches’ introduction at the Boothwyn Elementary School was repeated several times throughout the day.

“Is this him?” principal Kathy Sherman asked excitedly when Forrester and Lane entered the school. “Oh, he’s so cute.”

Lane hopes to get Patches into the Delaware County District Attorney’s office, Children and Youth Services offices and other school districts. Her wish would be to have a Patches in every classroom, she said.

Patches the Bear can be ordered by visiting Kathylee Forrester’s Web site, http://www.patcheskids.org/ and costs $50. Andrea’s Attic at 46 E. 10th St. in Marcus Hook is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. All proceeds from the shop go toward the Children’s Trust.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

It was more than a luncheon and more than a fashion show. It was a fund-raiser that raised nearly $45,000 to support programs for abused children in the greater Washington, D.C., area.

At the Hyatt Regency in Reston Feb. 21, nearly 300 local Childhelp members and friends listened as award recipient, Kathylee Forrester, described her mission - and personal horror - to advocate for victims of child abuse.

The fourth annual Childhelp Fashion Show and Luncheon, hosted by the Washington Area Chapter of Childhelp, highlighted the newest spring fashions for women, teens and children, while raising funds to support Childhelp’s local programs. “Healing the Hearts of Children” is the nonprofit’s goal, as well as this year’s theme.

Washington Area Chapter president Christin Klaff of Reston presented Forrester with the “Champion for Children” award, for her advocacy of legislation to protect children and for creating Patches, a bear designed to help abused children express themselves. Forrester has donated Patches bears for use in Childhelp programs in Fairfax, Culpeper and nationally.

WJLA TV News anchor, Cynne Simpson, emceed the fashion show, which featured more than 25 Childhelp volunteer models, from mothers to tots. Simpson encouraged guests to get involved. “We hear that it takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a village to protect a child,” Simpson said. She reminded the audience that four children die every day as a result of child abuse and that there are nearly 3 million reports of child abuse annually. “If you see something, or you hear something, do something,” she said. “If you are uncertain what to do, call Childhelp’s national hotline, which is staffed 24/7 with professional crisis counselors.”

Guests shopped at the boutiques, bid on silent and live auction items and participated in the raffle. Including sponsorships and ticket sales, Childhelp raised nearly $45,000 from the fashion show and luncheon that will support Childhelp’s programs in Northern Virginia.

Childhelp is one of the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofits dedicated to helping victims of child abuse and neglect. For more information, see www.childhelp.org. Its national hotline is 800-4A-CHILD.

phillyBurbs.com / News / Local / The Intelligencer News

Kathylee Forrester of Doylestown Township created a bear named Patches. Patches is a bear designed to help children have a way to communicate their emotions. The child is asked to place one or more “expressive emotion faces” into Patches front pocket. This gives the opportunity for parents to know how their child is feeling at that moment. Patches is used in therapy and child abuse cases as well.

By: CHRISTINA KRISTOFIC
The Intelligencer
A local woman who created the teddy bears that help children communicate needs help delivering them.

PATCHES the Bear has gone as far north as Michigan and as far west as California. He’s even gone as far south as Brazil.
And the cuddly teddy bear with a pocket full of feelings has found more ways to help kids than his Plumstead-based creator imagined.
“Every day, I get e-mails,” said Kathylee Forrester, PATCHES’ creator. “I don’t know how these people are finding out about him now.”
Forrester, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, created PATCHES (his name stands for Protect And Teach Children Habits, Empowerment and Safety) to help comfort young victims of sexual abuse and encourage them to communicate their feelings. Now child therapists who work with all kinds of children use the bear to get children to talk about their feelings. So do kindergarten teachers, military parents and parents of autistic children. He’s become popular in children’s hospitals - with patients and their siblings.
And Forrester needs help to keep PATCHES in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
One of the businesses that worked with Forrester to help put PATCHES in the hospital is going through bankruptcy and had to withdraw its support in March. Forrester has other sponsors who will help get PATCHES to the kids at the hospital later in the year. But she doesn’t have any help for April.
The hospital uses PATCHES as a therapeutic tool to get kids to talk about their feelings. The bear comes with eight “emotion” faces that represent different feelings, such as happy, afraid, angry and cool. Children are encouraged to put the appropriate faces into the bear’s front cargo pocket so that it might initiate a conversation about that moment’s emotions.
“When you’re younger, it’s hard to label your feelings sometimes. What PATCHES does is give us a way to educate kids about what feelings are and what emotions go along with those feelings, so kids can start to be able to label them,” said Samantha Palmieri, the special programs coordinator at the hospital.
The nurses and doctors all know that the kids have PATCHES bears.
Palmieri said she tells the staff, “If she’s reticent to tell you that she’s feeling happy or sad or her pills taste yucky or she’s hopeful, you can look in PATCHES’ pocket.”
And the kids really latch on to the stuffed animal, Palmieri said.
“There are kids that will carry him around everywhere they go after they’re introduced to him,” she said. “There was a patient who got one a couple of years ago during initial diagnosis. Every time she came back for an appointment, she brought PATCHES with her.”
Forrester is looking for people who are willing to become PATCHES Angels and contribute enough to give a bear or two (at about $25 each) to the hospital.
“I am just believing that we’re going to find some partners who want to do a good thing,” Forrester said. “In the end, God will provide.”
She credits God for the idea to make PATCHES.
Forrester was sexually abused by her father from when she was 6 until she was 18. In 1991, when Forrester was in her early 30s, her father was convicted of abusing a 9-year-old girl in Florida and sent to jail for only 40 days. Around the same time, Forrester’s brother killed himself because he was afraid he would sexually abuse his own child. Forrester, who had never talked about her father’s abuse, found she could no longer stay silent. She pushed officials in Florida to press charges against her father. He was convicted of sexually abusing Forrester and her brother, and sentenced to jail for three consecutive life sentences.
Then, in November 2003, Forrester’s stepmother committed suicide. Forrester’s stepmother had been like a mother to her, and Forrester had trouble coping with her feelings.
“I went away myself for three months,” she said. “While I was on my mountain in Breckenridge (Col.), as close to God as I could get, I was thinking about the fact that our human nature is to rely on our friends and family and spouses. But humans, by nature, will also hurt us and disappoint us.”
Then Forrester looked at the stuffed animals - an old brown teddy bear and an old blue lamb - she had taken with her to the mountain, and then at the emoticons on her computer screen.
“Then it clicked,” she said. “And I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, we could have a bear, a stuffed animal, something children will love, then the child can choose a face.’ ”
Forrester contacted toy companies herself to try to get someone to manufacture PATCHES, but had no luck. David Newell, who played Mr. McFeely on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and is married to an acquaintance of Forrester’s, gave Forrester the phone number of a toy broker. The broker loved the idea and helped Forrester find a manufacturer for PATCHES and a warehouse where they could store extra bears.
She spent $150,000 of her own money to make 10,000 bears; the bears debuted in October 2006.
“I feel like PATCHES is my story coming full circle,” she said. “I can’t regain the innocence I lost as a child. But I’ve learned to go back to that place so I can help children find their voice.”
Christina Kristofic can be reached at 215-345-3079 or ckristofic@phillyBurbs.com.
To help:
Visit www.patcheskids.org.
Or make a donation to Patches Kids Inc., 2865 South Eagle Road, Box 390, Newtown, PA 18940.
April 03, 2009 02:40 AM

KIDS: July 1, 2009

Presentation of the Proclamation

 

During its bi-monthly meeting at Newtown Township’s Morell Smith American Legion Post 440 headquarters, Bucks County Commissioners Chairman Charles Martin, James Cawley and Diane Ellis Marseglia approved 27 business resolutions for 11 departments. The meeting’s patriotic theme included a proclamation presented to Patches Kids founder Kathylee Forrester. Forrester, who has been a children’s’ advocate for the last two decades, addressed her program to help children express their feelings through a stuffed bear named Patches. “We started this program to assist fallen heroes, children of long or multiple deployments and those who serve multiple deployments,”Forrester commented. She went on to observe, “We need to rekindle patriotism in this country.” Complementing Forrester’s appearance was Army Reserve Col. Chuck Hutt, who led the meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance. A veteran of 35 years armed service, who has been a part of five military deployments, Col. Hutt addressed the importance of the big picture. “If family cannot be taken care of, troops cannot do their job,” he stated. The commissioners’ board presented a $1,000 “other civics” check to Patches Kids in recognition of the nonprofit group’s efforts. The meeting location was significant, as it paid tribute to World War I hero Morell Smith, who was killed in action on Oct. 18,1918, at the age of 30. A plaque in the hall honors Lt. Smith states, “He willingly sacrificed all that the Principles of Enduring Peace – the Liberty of Free People – and International Justice might be wrought anew.”

A list of Some of our Current Recipients of Patches the Bear!

CHILDHELP - Patches is now part of the Good Touch/Bad Touch Program & is also used by the Therapists(See Testimonial)

The ARMY NATIONAL GUARD - Children of Deployed Soldiers
Fallen Heroes Children - Marines, Army, Navy

Safe Harbor - VA

Family Services of Roanoke VA

Head Start
*
Lower Bucks YMCA
*
Lower Bucks YWCA
*
Family Service Association
*
A Woman’s Place - A Shelter for Abused women and their children
*
Libertae
*
NOVA - Network of Victim Assistance
*
American Red Cross - Homeless Shelter
*
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia - Child Life Specialist
*
The Sunshine Foundation
*
Select Bucks County Elementary Schools - Classrooms, Guidance Counselor
*
Select Delaware County Schools
*
Select Bucks County Police Departments
*
Select Special Needs Programs - (Including three programs for Autism)
*
Brazil Missions Trip
*
Kensington, PA Missions Group
*
Select N.J. Anti-Bullying Program
*
Mother Bachman St. Mary’s Hospital
*
Military Family’s Children - Coping with a severly injured soldier
*
Soldiers Angels & Living Legends Team
*
Select District Attorney Offices

The Patch Program - A Family Bereavement Program

To have a Patches The Bear of your own, please use the button below to order.

Patches the Bear costs $25, and includes shipping to the lower 48 states. Thank you for your support!