CONQUERALL BANK — A group of volunteers who took on the task of cleaning, repairing and packaging bears left for Karissa Boudreau have finished their job.

Nadine Sarty drove by the makeshift memorial every day and it pained her to see the hundreds of bears left by area residents in an outpouring of grief for the murdered 12-year-old girl being slowly destroyed by the elements.

“I would stop at the site almost every day and fill my car with stuffed bears, trinkets, flowers, and all the notes and letters I could find,” said Ms Sarty.

She took hundreds of bears to Mr. Suds Laundromat and Dry Cleaners and the remainders she brought home.

“In the evenings I would sort the items. The notes and cards were placed in photo albums and the trinkets were cleaned and placed in a box. The fabric flowers were placed in bags and the real flowers were separated from the packaging and composted,” she noted.

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The process took about two weeks. But once the items had all been prepared, the more than 700 stuffed animals were put in packages and sent to various charitable organizations for children in traumatic situations.

Ms Sarty said each bear was bagged and tagged with a note that said, “For You. In Loving Memory of Karissa Paige Boudreau 1995-2008.”

Some packages contained more than one bear and each of those boxes had a decal on the outside that said, “Handle With Hugs. Karissa Bears Inside.”
On March 8, volunteers gathered at the Bridgewater Mall and packaged the bears, which were distributed as follows:
• 36 bears went to 12 Ronald McDonald Houses throughout Canada.
• 108 bears to 56 schools from Chester to Yarmouth.
• 25 bears to motorcycle groups in Canada.
• 54 bears to 18 veterinary hospitals and animal shelters from the Maritimes.
• 12 bears to orphanages in the Dominican Republic.
• 35 bears to Canadian Red Cross for RespectEd and youth programs.
• 125 bears to 27 police departments in Nova Scotia.
• 135 bears to 45 fire departments in Canada.
• 72 bears to 24 women’s/children’s/men’s shelters in Nova Scotia.
• 70 bears to seven military family resource centres to be sent to Canadian troops to give to children.
• seven bears to seven media teams in Nova Scotia.
• one to the Hank Snow Museum.
• three bears to seniors’ homes in Lunenburg County.
• 12 bears to miscellaneous causes.
• 36 bears were destroyed.

Ms Sarty said there were also two large boxes of trinkets and figurines and three photo albums of notes and letters given to Karissa’s family.

posted on 03/24/08