Champion Fur Kids Bear History & Nikki Bear History

"We desire to provide direct support for children in the areas of
health and wellness such as childhood disease research foundations,
child safety organizations and organizations that serve children with
special needs. Our goal is to provide grants to help many programs that
are working hard to make the world a healthier and happier place for
kids.

These grants are funded through the sale of
Champ – A Champion Fur Kids. One dollar from the sale of Champ is
donated through the Build-A-Bear Workshop Bear Hugs Foundation to
children’s health and wellness causes throughout the United States and
Canada. Nikki was the inspiration behind these efforts.

For 2010, we will begin accepting children’s health and wellness grant
requests on March 2nd and we will review them on a rolling basis. The
online application will not be available until March 2nd. -Copyright to Buildabear.com"


"Dear Friends of Build a Bear Workshop,
It is hard to believe that it has been five years this July 4th holiday
since our world turned upside down when our fourteen year old
daughter,Nikki was diagnosed with a osteosarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer. Nikki
was such a healthy, athletic girl, so it was a terrible shock to all of
us. She was given the most aggressive chemotherapy and radiation
protocals available but the cancer was more aggressive. She fought
with the strength and grace of a champion, however, no amount of
determination could save our beautiful child. Nikki died just six months after her diagnosis, on New Year's Day 2002.
During Nikki's illness, she saw how little could be done once certain cancers spread,
and she knew how aggressive cancer could be in children. She was
inspired by how much was being done to fund research for many adult
cancers, especially noting that while everyone recognized the pink
ribbon for breast cancer, no one recognized the gold ribbon for
childhood cancer. Nikki began to write letters to advocate for funding pediatric cancer
research in December while she was very ill. During that time, just
before Christmas, she wanted to get some very special gifts for the
doctors and nurses who were caring for her, so she asked if we could go
to Build a Bear Workshop. She made ten special furry friends, dressed
in scrubs, with her doctors' and nurses' names handwritten on the "bear
a scopes." While we were there, she saw the beautiful pink bear,
"Hopeful Wishes" with the pink ribbon on her paw. Nikki
asked the manager if they had a similar bear for children with cancer.
When he kindly said no, she replied, "Well you should, because this
store is for kids!". Ten days after that special outing Nikki died. But her wish was born. Carried by Nikki's strength, I began to write letters. And one of the very first letters I wrote was to Maxine Clark, the founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop. The manager of the West Hartford store encouraged me to email Maxine and tell her of Nikki's wish. It was so important to Nikki
that the voices of children with cancer be heard, so when I heard that
Build a Bear was going to create a bear for children with cancer I felt
Nikki's spirit dancing with joy in my very being. During the past four years,
this bear has touched the hearts of many special children. I have been
told stories by parents and children alike how this little purple bear
has helped some very sick kids get through some very tough moments.
There is nothing like a bear hug to know that we are loved.
While meeting with Maxine, we talked about how important funding for research is for so many of
children's illnesses. As a pediatric nurse I have worked with so many
critically ill children, and have seen the spirit of all of these
children inspire all of those their lives touch. Build-A-Bear Workshop
has taken that spirit, from all of these special children and createdChamp, a bear that will continue to give kids hugs when they need it most. And most importantly, Champ will help continue to fund research that is critical to helping our kids get better. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank Maxine and all of our friends at Build-A-Bear Workshop for giving kids a voice.
With love and gratitude,
Nikki's Mom and the Giampolo family -Copyright to Buildabear.com"
I personally, did not write this. I posted this on here, as hoping for you to spread some care, love, and joy to one another. This is not meant for copyright. I cannot take the credit for this, but hope it will warm your heart a bit. Thank you.

oh wow!! the Nikki's bear one is sooo sad!! thank you so much for posting this!!

OMG! I didn't know half of these things!!! I feel so sad now.

This is verrrrie interesting? The nikki bear story is ver glum. :/

Awwww...
The Nikki Bear story is so heart warming. Although I never like hearing about death.

Wow, I didn't know half of those stuff.
The story about the Nikki Bear is sooo sad.

Awww..the Nikki Bear story is so sad. :[