The Program Has Expanded!

In 2003 the United Way Volunteer Center and the Valparaiso University Softball team partnered to create the I Need a Hug program to assist the guidance counselors in our elementary schools who could no longer physically comfort young children going through a crisis. Throughout the year, we ask the community businesses, churches, civic groups, and families to host a drive and collect new, small, stuffed animals that we provide to the counselors and are used to comfort the children.

Last year one of the participating schools asked us to provide a stuffed animal to each of the second grade students for a pilot literacy program called Reading Buddies. Students were tested reading skills were tested at the beginning of the year and again at the end of the year. Each day the students read out loud to their “Reading Buddy” and by the end of the school year the reading scores had risen significantly.

When this information was shared with the other counselors, many schools have asked to participate in Reading Buddies which means we will need 8,000 stuffed animals per year to support the expanded I Need a Hug program in the 84 schools that implement this program.

How can you help us reach this goal??

1. Host a drive with your employees, at your church, within your civic organization, etc. (we provide posters and pick up animals after your drive)
2. Make a monetary donation so we can purchase the animals in bulk
3. Share this information with friends, co-workers, and families