Downey group donates two dozen teddy bears to Maui children

Martha Sodetani with a Hug-A-Bear in front of the Assistance League’s Second Tyme Around Thrift Store.

DOWNEY – When longtime Assistance League of Downey member and former president Martha Sodetani learned of the destruction of her late husband’s childhood church, Lahaina United Methodist Church, and saw pictures of families and their children who had lost everything in the wildfires, she was galvanized into action.

After consulting with fellow members, Sodetani helped coordinate the shipment of two dozen Hug-A-Bears to Pastor John Crewe, senior pastor at that church.

Hug-A-Bears is a long-standing program of the Downey Assistance League, and it is one of th primary philanthropies of the Assisteens, the teen auxiliary for high school kids.

Typically, these bears are distributed to local police and fire departments to be given out to children who have undergone a traumatic event, such as loss of a home in a fire, involvement in a catastrophic car crash, or death of a parent to help provide comfort at a difficult time.

Sodetani and other Assistance League members decided the bears could provide some small comfort to children in Maui who have been impacted.

Pastor John, when contacted, agreed, and the bears are now wending their way to Maui.