County Exchange Club fills need with Care Bear Bags

It’s no surprise that members of law enforcement often see people on the worst day of their lives – or at least, very bad days. When a child is involved, it’s amplified.

That makes the work of the Exchange Club of Steele County even more important.

Every April, in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month, the group assembles what it calls “Care Bear Bags,” then distributes them to the Blooming Prairie Police Department, Steele County Sheriff’s Office and the Crisis Resource Center in Owatonna.

The drawstring tote bags are provided by the national club, then personalized with the local group’s logo; the Steele County group then purchases the contents, which include a teddy bear, coloring book, crayons, tissues, stickers and more.

“We do these sorts of things to recognize the issues that are involved with child abuse in our country,” said Randy Sobrack, president-elect of the Steele County chapter, as well as to support the National Exchange Club’s overall project of preventing child abuse.

“It’s a nice way to support little kids,” Sobrack said. “I think if you look at the mental health issues and the stresses of today’s world – it’s rough for adults. I can’t imagine the difficulty that children have, and youth have, so if we can help ease the burden of the hardships they are experiencing, get their minds off what they’re dealing with, and give them a little teddy bear as a companion…

“We believe that we’re putting our best foot forward to make things better for our community,” he said.

This year, the local club distributed 50 bags; some years there are 100. The numbers are based on need.

The club skipped last year’s delivery to Blooming Prairie; Police Chief Greg Skillestad said they hadn’t used all of the previous year’s bags – a good sign.

“This is great, because this is such a connection that we can have with kids,” he said. “Boy, when we can come up (to a scene) with a teddy bear – we’re the heroes. Making that connection with the kids, it does help, especially when you’ve got a child in tears.”

It doesn’t necessarily have to be child abuse or other criminal cases, said BP Officer Brad Busho.

“Even bad car crashes, I pull (the bags) out if mom or dad are injured, give them to the kid on the side of the street,” he said. “It helps distract them for a little bit.”

Not only are the bags a bright spot for kids and officers, “the big thing is, we don’t have a budget for this,” Skillestad said. “This is so nice of the Exchange Club.”