MANCHESTER, NH — Build-A-Bear, located at the Mall of New Hampshire, is hosting a bear building event on Saturday August 6. Children and/or adults can build a bear between the hours of 10 – 11:30 a.m., to be donated to the Manchester Police Department for a noble cause.
The cost of the event is $12 per bear, which will be considered a donation to the cause, according to organizers.
The Manchester Police Department will store the bears in marked police units, so they are readily available for children following a traumatic event by the Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team (ACERT), which is a partnership between Project LAUNCH (Linking Action for Unmet Needs in Children’s Health) at Manchester Community Health Center, The Manchester Police Department and the YWCA-New Hampshire
Project LAUNCH has received a $150,000 grant over three years from the HNH Foundation to support ACERT. The ACERT will be made up of a police officer, a crisis services advocate, and a behavioral health professional. The team will be able to respond to incidents in which children have been exposed to traumatic events as soon as the scenes have been secured by the police.
The generosity of Build-A-Bar will help our agency continue to make positive strides toward reducing the stresses associated with traumatic events for children.
