Children at Jackson’s Le Bonheur center receive joyful donation
JACKSON, Tenn. — One local business is spreading some cheer to a children’s outpatient center in honor of National Teddy Bear Day.
The Tyson plant in Humboldt donated teddy bears and stuffed animals to the Le Bonheur Children’s Outpatient Center in Jackson.
The Tyson plant has roughly 1,500 employees and 182 toys were donated. Tyson has been donating teddy bears to the Le Bonheur center for two years now.
Plant manager Ryan Richardson describes how Tyson has become more engaged with the community.
“Since we have established, we kind of have looked at community outreaches and seeing how we can help give back to the community that our team members are apart of,” Richardson said. “We know that all of this is donor funded and everything like that so being able to get our team members involved having them donate and us being the steward to bring those here.”
He also expresses how it makes him feel to be able to make donations like this to the community.
“I’m a big advocate for taking care of our community, but being able to take care of the children that come into these clinics and into the hospital at Le Bonheur, it means a lot to me,” Richardson said,
As we know, going to the hospital or doctor’s office can be scary for a child, and Syrena Flowers with Le Bonheur explains how impactful these stuffed animals are.
“Just seeing that expression on their face going from nervous and scared to very excited,” Flowers said. “We’ve had patients that wanted to start opening their toy right then and there.”
Every patient that comes in to the facility gets to receive an animal from a treasure chest at the end of their visit to take back home with them.
The plant plans to continue donating to the children’s outpatient center for years to come.
For more local news, click here.
