On any given day at Westside Elementary School in Palm Bay, Mary Krause’s classroom is pretty typical-until you look into large bags filled with brightly colored stuffed bears with big eyes, snoots and a red felt heart. Many of these cuddly creatures will become world travelers, finding their way into little hands and hearts as far away as Haiti, Chile, Uganda, India, Indonesia, and Iraq.  

For seven years the students of Mary Krause’s Gifted and Talented classes have provided hand-sewn teddy bears for children in crisis or need to local service organizations and all around the world.  “When I began the teddy bear project seven or so years ago, I had no idea that it would still be going so strong now,” said Krause. “It always seems to be a real ‘selling point’ for new students coming into my programs, whether they are in the state-funded Gifted Student Program or the informal enrichment program I created called Advanced Children of Excellence program.