Kentucky State Police Deploy Trooper Teddy Tour Project (PHOTOS)
Kentucky State Troopers are making special deliveries to children in different hospitals across the Bluegrass State with Trooper Teddy Tour Project. We wanted to share their journey-->
KSP has been visiting hospitals since Tuesday and will continue to visit and meet patients to bring joy during their stay. Today they are in Lexington and Campbellsville.
Here's the history on Trooper Teddy;
The Trooper Teddy Bear Project came to life in December of 1989 after Kentucky First Lady Martha Wilkinson hosted a gala fundraiser at Red Mile Racecourse earlier that summer. The black tie event raised the needed funds to purchase 2,000 Trooper Teddy Bears. The concept of the program was for Troopers to provide stuffed animals to children during traumatic experiences such as a car crash, child or sexual abuse cases and also distribute to terminally ill children. The first allotment of bears included a personal note on each stuffed animal from First Lady Wilkinson. KSP partnered with the Indiana State Police with this effort and they too passed out Trooper Bears. The program ran out of funding in early 2000 until recently when KSP was able to utilize asset forfeiture funds from criminal drug activity to purchase additional bears. The agency plans to sustain the program by offering the bears for sale to the public.
You can help support Project Teddy here!
Great job KSP!