THOMASVILLE — One hundred teddy bears were donated to Thomasville Police Department in partnership with the non-profit organization Chaney’s Champion. 

The plush stuffed animals will be given out by officers to any child in need of comfort during a traumatic experience as part of the organization’s mission.

Chaney’s Champion was established in 2017 in memory of Chaney James Corcoran, a 10-week-old baby who lost his life to sudden infant death syndrome.

To carry on Chaney’s legacy, the family decided to start the charity as a way to pay it forward to others in need. 

“We wanted to make sure one, that we did everything that we could to keep his memory alive, but also use our tragedy to be able to then try to pay kindness forward to other individuals that may be going through a difficult time,” Lee Worsley, Chaney’s uncle, and treasurer of Chaney’s Champion, said. 

Through the years, Chaney’s Champion has donated approximately 2,000 bears to agencies throughout North Carolina and is now branching out to other states, including Virginia and Michigan.

The partnership with the TPD is its first in Georgia.

“It feels really great,” Worsley noted. 

Thomasville Police Chief John Letteney had a hand in developing the program idea when he was Apex, North Carolina police chief.

The North Carolina agency was the first one to partner with Chaney’s Champion.

“It’s really neat to see this start from an idea born out of grief at a table in the police department conference room,” he said. “To see from that conversation, how it turned into something that is now in four states, that is making a difference in the lives of kids.”

TPD joins 22 other first responder agencies involved in the initiative.  

The bears will serve as tools of comfort for officers at any active scene with children present, said TPD spokesperson Cpl. Crystal Parker.

“It’s just something to give them comfort in a time when they’re feeling unsure and unsteady,” she said. “It might just help them feel a little bit more secure and a little more safe to have something to squeeze on to.”

Each Chaney bear will come with a positive message that Worsley said will help any child through a hardship.

“We’re all human and if we all just show a little more kindness to each other, we can do a lot of good in this world, so we just want to do our part to have Chaney’s light shine and help others through difficult times,” he said. 

Letteney said having the bears won’t only have a positive impact on a child in need but also the officers involved.

“It’s great for the officers to be able to do something to make a positive difference in the life of a child,” he said.

The results of the bear outreach program continue to be positive and all worth it, according to Worsley. 

“Chaney’s up there looking down on us and has a big smile on his face,” he said, “so we’re thrilled to be able to do it and that’s why we’re doing this, to try to reach as many people as we can. The only thing we ask in return is to pay kindness forward in some way at some future date.”