A big box of love.

We got a very special delivery yesterday…

It all began when a woman named Allison Hoffman got in touch from Texas via Twitter. Allison explained she had watched Anya online and wanted to help. She offered to crochet a Pascha doll and put the plans for same on her website for others to crochet their own bears. These bears would then be sent to the orphanages in Russia.

Allison’s Crafty Is Cool Website

The response was immediate. Over 200 people got in touch to say they would love to make one and slowly but surely the bears began to arrive from around the world to Allison’s house in Texas. Once she had enough to ship, she boxed them up and sent them to Ireland with the first consignment arriving into the To Russia With Love’s beautiful Clontarf shop yesterday.

Fifty three of the little beauties – each one lovingly hand made.

The response to the bears has been amazing. The taxi driver bringing me back from the shop asked me about them, I told him the story of the charity, the kids in the orphanage and the film. He immediately offered to help, he asked if he could borrow a Pascha bear to put on his dashboard. He then stuck the charities details below the bear, he is going to tell everyone who gets into his cab about To Russia With Love and the work they do.

This in turn lead to us thinking about the possibility of having some ‘ambassador’ bears – people borrow a bear and put it in a high profile location as a talking point, because in my experience once people hear about the charity and kids, they are very keen to help.

It goes without saying that all the bears are all delightful and brilliantly made, with each one capturing the personality of the maker. But more than that, the bears are a symbol to those that matter most, the children in the orphanages. Not only will each child be getting a bear, they will be getting a clear message that there are people around the world thinking about them.

Lastly we would just like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has made a bear and if anyone would like to get involved and make their own Pascha bear the plans are here:

Crafty Is Cool - Pascha Bear pattern!

To learn more about To Russia With Love and the amazing work they do with orphaned and abandoned children in Russia please visit:

www.torussiawithlove.ie