North Bay Civitan hosting teddy bear drive-thru for Highway Patrol troops statewide

D’IBERVILLE, Miss. — For the fifteenth consecutive year, members of the North Bay Civitan Club of D’Iberville & St. Martin will be collecting teddy bears for a good cause.

The club’s 15th Annual Bears on Patrol Drive-Thru is Saturday, September 21 at the D’Iberville Promenade Shopping Center.

This was the first community project for North Bay Civitans prior to chartering as a new service club under Civitan International, a 501(c)-3 nonprofit headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

Since that first year, nearly 2,000 teddy bears have been collected and distributed to law enforcement agencies and fire departments in Harrison County and Jackson County. In fact, less than 30 teddy bears were received in the first year with the largest collection at just over 300 a couple years ago. Last year, about 150 colorful teddy bears filled the back of a pick-up truck.

This year, the Civitan club will present all teddy bears to Mississippi Highway Patrol courtesy of Troop K, which will help distribute the cuddly toys to other troops statewide for use during emergencies or accidents. The hope is that each teddy bear will provide comfort to anyone of any age who is involved in an accident or other emergency situation.

Donors can swing by and use the barricaded drive-thru courtesy of the City of D’Iberville to safely drop off a teddy bear between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Target parking lot east of the AT&T store. The drive-thru will not be open until 11 a.m.

Volunteers from St. Martin High School’s Beta Club and D’Iberville High School’s Key Club will be in the drive-thru to accept handheld or huggable sized teddy bears, which will be checked for cleanliness and retagged with a message of comfort and love.

Those who cannot make the drive-thru on Saturday can still donate early by using any of these teddy bear early drop off sites through Friday morning:

• Jerry Lawrence Memorial Library, Automall Pkwy.
• Martin Public Library, LeMoyne Blvd.
• Gunter Library, USM-GCRL, Halstead Rd. in Ocean Springs
• New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church of Biloxi, Main Street
• A Latte Friends, Automall Pkwy. (offering 20% off coffee purchase for a teddy bear)
• Evergreen Jewelry Designs, D’Iberville Blvd. (offering a FREE jewelry cleaning and inspection for a teddy bear)

More details can be found on the North Bay Civitan Club’s Facebook event page: www.facebook.com/events/986829175786335