Southwest stuffs collection drive

Eighth-grader Lucca Wang added a small brown horse Tuesday to the mountain of stuffed animals destined for sick youngsters at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

“It’s cute. I think a kid would like it,” said Wang, among students at Southwest Junior High School who donated more than 300 stuffed animals to the cause.

Southwest’s students stepped in to support a drive coordinated by Gamma Phi Beta sorority at Kansas University.

Sorority member Cassie Hicks said the goal was to collect at least 1,000 stuffed animals. The creatures will be donated to the Kansas City, Mo., hospital in memory of Erin Wilson, a 12-year-old Overland Park girl who died there last year after an eight-year battle against leukemia.

A member of Gamma Phi Beta, Kate Rosen, was Erin’s friend.

“The bears will provide comfort to the children while they are away from home,” said Tom McCormally, director of public relations at the hospital.

Hicks said numerous fraternities and sororities at KU also were collecting items for the hospital. The public is welcome to donate by bringing new stuffed animals to the Gamma Phi Beta house, 1339 West Campus Road.

Members of the sorority went to Southwest, 2511 Inverness Drive, on Tuesday to collect the students’ gifts.

From left, Cambria Perico, 14, a student at Southwest Junior High School, helps Gamma Phi Beta members Kasi Stelzer, Pratt, Jennifer Weaver, Manhattan, and Erin Dell, St. Louis, pack up teddy bears intended for young patients at Children's Mercy Hospital. Southwest students collected more than 300 stuffed animals to donate Tuesday to the sorority's goal of 1,000.

A friendly competition among the three grades at Southwest led to donation of 309 stuffed animals. The breakdown: eighth-graders, 123 animals; ninth-graders, 113; seventh-graders, 73.

Eighth-graders Emily Moseley, Katelyn Hobbs and Emily Loyd, members of the school’s student council executive committee, lobbied their peers to kick-start the drive.

“We had to really sell it at the beginning,” Hobbs said.

The council devoted $250 raised by students to buy 38 stuffed animals.

“It feels really good,” Moseley said.

Danira Flores, a Southwest teacher and sponsor of student council, said the students responded well to the appeal.

“I think it should be a tradition at Southwest,” she said.

Gamma Phi Beta sorority will collect teddy bears for patients at Children’s Mercy Hospital through Monday. Bears can be donated to the sorority house, 1339 West Campus Road. The sorority hopes to collect 1,000 bears.