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We would like to thank Angel for giving us permission to share her beautifully-written account. If you have a special Teddy Bear memoir to share, please email us.

I went to your website and I really think it is a good idea what you are doing for little kids. I have a teddy bear story you might enjoy. I have Asperger's Syndrome, which is like a high functioning form of autism. When I was a teenager I was homeless and living on the streets and in shelters. I was pretty much the youngest person in the shelter, and because of my disability I seemed even younger, so all the older homeless people and volunteers used to look out for me. Once I had found an old stuffed racoon in a donation box at one of the shelters. It was real old and had Kool-Aid stains and stuff all over it, but I used to carry it everywhere and sleep with it and all. There was this lady named Kathy and her husband Lou who were truck drivers but they ended up in the shelter around Christmas time and they got to be friends of mine. They were staying in a motel right before they got ready to leave in their truck again, and they said to come over cause they had a Christmas present for me. They gave me a brand new Christmas teddy bear! I gave them my old racoon, to remember me by. I didn't have much else to give.

I named the teddy bear Chumba, after the band "Chumbawamba" which played my favorite song at the time. Chumba is now the most beat up old bear you ever saw. But it's because I've barely ever put him down, especially during the years when I was on the streets. On benches outside, in different shelters across the state, at people's houses, in motels, in cars, and everywhere, Chumba has been with me. His Christmas hat and ribbon fell off, but when I went to visit my old foster mother in Denver she sewed a new red and green ribbon on him. People used to tell me all the time, "When are you getting rid of that old bear?" My answer is always, "NEVER!" Chumba is my security and comfort. (I'm almost 24 now, and I know it looks a little odd for me to be carrying a teddy bear to work and school, so I keep him in my backpack a lot when I'm out!)

Anyways, I am staying with family members now, and I got a job at a special education school, working as a 1 to 1 aide for a little boy with autism. It don't pay enough to get my own place yet, but I'm saving up! Anyways, when I get paid next time, I'm gonna go get some teddy bears and send them to you, so some more little kids can have them!

- Angel

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