BARDANE, W.Va. (AP) - A Freemason affiliate group delivered teddy bears to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department to five to children during traumatic events.
The Journal reports Virginia Widows Sons Brazen Pillars Chapter Masonic Riders Association delivered about 50 bears to Sheriff Pete Dougherty at the department's headquarters in Bardane on Christmas Eve.
Mason Chip Bennett tells the newspaper the project was started in 2002 by the Winchester Hiram Lodge No. 21. He says it was started to give first-responders bears to hand out to children after fires, car accidents and crimes.
Sheriff Dougherty says a teddy bear can often help keep a child's mind off a recent traumatic event. He added the department is also rolling out a new system to alert schools about a child's potentially traumatic event.