{"id":24649,"date":"2016-12-15T05:52:25","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T10:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=24649"},"modified":"2018-10-01T13:14:25","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T17:14:25","slug":"spreading-love-smiles-one-bear-hug-time-meet-hailey-scott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/spreading-love-smiles-one-bear-hug-time-meet-hailey-scott\/","title":{"rendered":"Spreading love and smiles one bear hug at a time: Meet Hailey Scott"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week, I will be profiling an extraordinary human being who lives in our community. If you know someone who is doing something interesting with their life, I want to hear about it. Send me an email at <\/strong><\/em>laura.maclean@doppleronline.ca<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It was a Christmas wish that came true.<\/p>\n

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Hailey Scott remembers it vividly. She was six years old, flipping through the pages of a World Vision magazine. She became disheartened to learn that not every household was like hers and there were children far away on the other side of the world who didn\u2019t have much of anything. There were kids who actually didn\u2019t even have a single teddy bear to call their own. And even though she was just a young girl, she was smart enough to be driven to do something about it. She started collecting donations from her family and friends and kids at her school and before she knew it, she had raised enough money to send her first box of teddy bears overseas.<\/p>\n

And that was just the beginning\u2026<\/p>\n

When Christmas rolled around Hailey paid a special visit to Santa. She sat upon his lap, gazed up in all her sweet innocence and told him her Christmas wish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure he expected me to say a Barbie or a special toy, but I told him I just really wanted every little boy and girl to have a teddy bear of their own,\u201d says Hailey, who, at 17, still hasn\u2019t grown out of her sweet and caring nature. She\u2019s an absolutely stunning teenager. \u201cI told Santa what I did with World Vision and said, \u2018If I did that, Santa, imagine what you could do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, that Christmas wish took the jolly man by surprise. Word passed along to the right people at the Huntsville Place Mall and before Hailey knew it boxes were set up and teddy bear donations began to pour in. Her selfless request was having a big impact in the community.<\/p>\n

The fact that people listened to this six-year-old girl\u2026 that has taught me so much. If you believe in something, it\u2019s always okay to ask. Maybe it will turn into something so wonderful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And so the annual teddy bear drive was born. The first year saw more than 500 teddy bears collected and distributed to local kids in need. Even the Salvation Army stepped up to help get those bears to boys and girls in time for Christmas. Hailey\u2019s simple Christmas wish that everyone had a teddy to hug and call their own came true.<\/p>\n

Over the last 11 years, it\u2019s grown to be so much more. Hailey is officially known as Muskoka\u2019s Teddy Bear Girl and to date she has collected over 10,000 cute and cuddly teddy bears for children and even adults who might not have one otherwise. Every year, around the end of November or early December, teddy bear donation boxes are set up at the mall and around town. A Teddy Bear Toss takes place at the Jack Bionda Arena where Otters\u2019 fans are asked to bring a bear and toss it on the ice for a great cause. This year, 112 were collected.<\/p>\n\n\t\t