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entry Photo by Jenni Ragland
Annual event features hundreds of teddy bears auctioned off to support The Salvation Army.
By Jenni Ragland
The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary in Anchorage, Alaska, held its 13th annual Teddy Bear Tea and Auction, featuring over 220 bears dressed in costumes representing nine categories: Bear Extravaganza, A Teddy Bear’s Year, Familiar Faces, Family Pride, Bears at Work, Bears at Play, Celebrations, the Younger Generation and Furry Friends. More than 350 guests attended the event, which raised nearly $15,000 for The Salvation Army’s Anchorage-area ministries.
“Much like the precious lives that are touched through the Army’s ministry each day, we’ve seen a personal connection for many of our bear dressers in sharing their own stories through their bears,” said Major Jeanne Baker, Alaska divisional director of women’s ministries.
Typically, individuals in the Anchorage area dress the bears, but recently Wells Fargo and First National Bank Alaska have expanded their efforts, inviting employees from throughout Alaska to participate. Bears arrived from Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, Palmer, Wrangell, Delta Junction, Kodiak and King Salmon, and every bear found a new home.
This year, custom painted wooden bear ornaments by Jane Hafling, former cartoonist, were a popular new addition and an affordable option for those people who weren’t successful in bidding on the more expensive stuffed bears.
The 2012 Best of Show entry was “A Partridge in a Bear Tree,” dressed by Diane Otto and Dana Diemer of Wells Fargo. It featured a slim Christmas tree adorned with a partridge ornament. Stuffed bears surrounded the tree’s base, and tiny bears glistened throughout the tree. The finishing touch was a thread of gold ribbon, woven through the branches and studded with Teddy Graham bears.
