In celebration of the company's 15th birthday, Build-A-Bear
Workshop® (NYSE: BBW) will honor 15 Huggable Heroes this year and
donate $150,000 to their education and charitable causes. The
national youth program, which recognizes young people for giving
back to their communities and around the world, awards each
Huggable Hero $10,000 (a $7,500 educational scholarship and $2,500
from the Build-A-Bear Workshop Foundation to be donated to the
501(c)(3) charity or Canadian cause of the Huggable Hero's choice).
This year, in addition to attending an awards ceremony at
Build-A-Bear Workshop World Bearquarters in St. Louis, the 15
Huggable Heroes will also participate in a service project at St.
Jude Children's Research Hospital® in Memphis, Tenn. The service
project and awards celebration will take place July 18-20.
"The number of Huggable Heroes this year not only celebrates our
15th birthday but also demonstrates the amount of heart that young
people have when it comes to giving back," said Maxine Clark,
Build-A-Bear Workshop founder and chief executive bear. "We're
thrilled to recognize so many young people who inspire us with
their stories and dedication to volunteerism. We believe that
encouraging community service at a young age helps establish a
lifelong commitment to giving back and making the world a better
place."
From providing shoes for the homeless, to recycling eye glasses,
to making cupcakes to raise funds to assist children with cancer
and many other philanthropic projects, this group of young social
entrepreneurs has gone above and beyond to help others.
Collectively, they have raised nearly $1.4 million, to support
worthy causes. The Huggable Heroes have also:
- Collected 15,500 books and 25 van loads of furnishings for
orphaned and abandoned children in India and the U.S.
- Made 40,000 meals, put together 6,000 backpacks of food and
collected 3,000 canned goods for food banks in Texas
- Collected 3,000 pairs of shoes for homeless shelters across the
U.S.
- Built 27 new homes for the unsheltered in Haiti
- Created 55 cheerleading and dance teams nationwide that include
students with disabilities.
In its ninth annual search for Huggable Heroes, Build-A-Bear
Workshop received approximately 1,100 entries. Entries were
narrowed down to 80 semifinalists in March and to 30 finalists in
May.
Following are the 2012 Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable Heroes and
their stories. As the ninth class of Huggable Heroes, they join a
distinguished group of more than 100 other Huggable Heroes who
continue to help change our world.
2012 Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable
Heroes
Allyson Ahlstrom, 16, Santa Rosa, CA
Allyson created Threads for Teens, a clothing boutique that helps
girls, ages 13-17, in need build self-esteem and confidence while
giving them hope. Girls have the opportunity to visit the store and
shop for items they need, all at no cost. So far, Allyson has
raised approximately $75,000 for Threads for Teens and has
recruited 30 volunteers to help with her shop. She also has helped
Girl Scouts receive Bronze Awards by providing opportunities for
volunteerism. To date, more than 120 girls have visited her store
and she has donated more than 70 backpacks filled with school
supplies.
Lulu Cerone, 12, Encino, CA Lulu created
LemonAID Warriors to empower youth in her community to make a
difference. Her first event was a boys vs. girls LemonAID war to
benefit Haiti. This concept spread across the country and more than
500 kids ordered LemonAID kits to raise funds and the events raised
$4,000 in two weeks. She has since organized community events,
called "PhilanthroParties," to inspire her peers to get involved.
Lulu has raised more than $12,000 to benefit various causes,
collected more than 2,000 cans of food and recruited 600 volunteers
to help support her efforts.
Blakely Colvin, 17, Solvang, CA Blakely
created the nonprofit organization, Cupcakes for Cancer, to raise
funds to support pediatric research, grant wishes, and assist
children with cancer. She and her team of volunteers bake cupcakes
that are sold after school and at local events. Through Cupcakes
for Cancer, Blakely has raised $85,000, granted seven wishes and
has been able to provide two $1,000 college scholarships. She has
also designed a national outreach campaign, "Frosting HOPE Across
America," to inspire others to bake and donate. Fifteen states now
have Cupcake Angels kids and clubs to further the cause.
Sarah Cronk, 18, Bettendorf, IA Sarah
founded The Sparkle Effect, an organization that helps students
across the country form cheerleading and dance teams that include
students with disabilities. Students can visit The Sparkle Effect
website to obtain information on forming their own teams. The
website offers a step-by-step quick-start kit for creating an
inclusive team, fundraising ideas, practice tips, information on
grants for uniforms and free on-site training. To date, the Sparkle
Effect has raised more than $150,000 and generated 55 inclusive
squads across the country.
Yash Gupta, 15, Irvine, CA Yash created
Sight Learning, a non-profit organization that supplies donated
eyeglasses to students in need in the United States, Mexico and
Honduras. To date, Sight Learning has collected more than $35,000
in donations. The organization also organizes and runs eye exam
clinics. Yash wears glasses himself and knows firsthand how
difficult learning becomes when you do not have the glasses you
need. Sight Learning has partnered with other organizations, such
as VOSH and New Eyes for the Needy and was recently recognized as
an Official Presidential Volunteer Service Award Organization.
Neha Gupta, 15, Yardley, PA Neha founded
the global nonprofit organization Empower Orphans, which has
established five libraries, three computer labs, one sewing school
and sponsored the education of 50 children. Neha's mission is to
provide orphaned and disadvantaged children with the skills and
environment to enable them to become productive members of society.
Empower Orphans also provides food, clothing, footwear, health care
and medical supplies to thousands of children. The organization is
active in India and the United States and has raised $375,000,
collected 15,500 books and 25 van loads of furnishings.
Yoni Kalin, 17, Washington, DC In an
effort to promote recycling, Yoni founded Color My World (CMW)
which collects and repurposes crayons discarded by national
restaurant chains and distributes them to shelters and underfunded
schools. He also created a coloring book that encourages recycling.
Yoni has partnered with 27 restaurants in nine states, encouraging
them to recycle crayons in a bin provided by CMW. He then sanitizes
the crayons and contacts schools to organize drop-offs. Yoni has
raised approximately $10,000 for his cause, collecting nearly
20,000 crayons and recruiting numerous teen volunteers to help
manage the project.
Cassandra Lin, 13, Westerly, RI After
reading an article in the local newspaper, Cassandra discovered
that many residents could not afford to heat their homes. Inspired
by this need, she formed a team of five seventh graders to create
TGIF (Turn Grease Into Fuel). She works with local biofuel
companies to recycle the grease from residents and restaurants,
refine it into biodiesel and distribute it to needy families and
local charities. TGIF's efforts have enabled 92 families to keep
warm during the cold winters. The organization also drafted and
passed a newly enacted law that mandates waste cooking oil
recycling in Rhode Island.
Will Lourcey, 9, Fort Worth, TX Will
created FROG, Friends Reaching Our Goals, a service group that
creates programs and events to raise awareness and funding for the
Tarrant Area Food Bank. As part of FROG, he started the "Hits &
Kicks Against Hunger" program where elementary students fight
hunger while playing baseball, softball and soccer. He also started
"FROGs at the Plate," which brings together business owners and
community leaders to raise money for local food banks. To date,
Will and his FROG team have donated approximately 40,000 meals,
6,000 backpacks of food and 3,000 cans of food.
Nicholas Lowinger, 14, Cranston, RI
Nicholas started the Gotta Have Sole Foundation which donates new
footwear to children living in homeless shelters across the United
States. Shelter advocates send him footwear orders and Nicholas
collects, packages and often hand delivers the shoes. To
commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
Nicholas held a special event to collect and send new footwear to
more than 90 children of the first responders. To date, Nicolas has
raised $49,000 for purchasing 3,000 pairs of shoes for homeless
children.
Madelyn McGlynn, 17, Belleville, IL
Madelyn co-founded NETwork Against Malaria (NAM) to help save
Ugandan children's lives and keep them in school. Due to malaria,
the average Ugandan student misses 60 days of school per year. NAM
provides malaria and health education for American and Ugandan
students and raises funding for bed net distribution to Ugandan
students and pregnant women. Madelyn has helped raise approximately
$75,000 and purchased 5,500 bed nets to protect up to 16,500
children and pregnant women from malaria. Madelyn's leadership has
inspired 30 high school and college NAM chapters in 18 states.
Ceilidh Millar, 18, New Westminster, BC
Ceilidh volunteers over 40 hours a month as a teen reporter,
spokesperson and peer advocate for bullying prevention. She shares
information about the dangers and consequences of bullying through
presentations, television appearances and articles. Ceilidh's work
has been featured on the National Bullying Prevention Center and
Teens Against Bullying websites.
Catherine Mitchell, 16, Oceanside, CA
Catherine founded Beauty 4 Life, a socially-minded business
offering handcrafted Ugandan jewelry to create dignity, work and
opportunity for Ugandan women. The goal of Beauty 4 Life is to help
the Ugandan women educate their children and provide for their
families. She has built women's centers, schools and childcare
centers. She has also provided business, finance, health and
language (English) lessons to Ugandan women. Catherine has raised
more than $100,000 and donated over 5,000 pounds of school supplies
and basic items to benefit her cause.
Clara Pilley, 10, Mt. Pleasant, SC Clara
started Keys for Hope to raise money and awareness for Crisis
Ministries, her local homeless shelter. Clara, with the help of her
friends, decorates recycled keys with buttons and other
embellishments. After the keys are decorated, each is attached to a
card explaining the cause and sold as a necklace, key chain, zipper
pull or ornament. Keys for Hope has sold approximately 2,000 keys
and raised $12,000. Clara chose the key because it symbolizes home
and the hope for a better future for Charleston's homeless.
Rachel Wheeler, 12, Lighthouse Point, FL
Rachel has raised $167,400 to build 27 two-room homes and $132,000
to build a school complete with educational supplies in Leogane,
Haiti. She has raised funding for her projects through garage
sales, lemonade stands, school bake sales and dances, presentations
to Chambers of Commerce and speaking engagements. She supports the
efforts of the nonprofit organization Food for The Poor and its
quest to house the unsheltered in Haiti.
About Huggable Heroes Huggable Heroes is a
program founded in 2004 to honor and reward young people for giving
back to their communities, their schools and our world. It was
inspired by Nikki Giampolo, a Build-A-Bear Workshop Guest, who
loved life, children and teddy bears. She shared that love by
giving teddy bears and their hugs to all those around her. In 2002,
at the age of 15, Nikki lost her life to cancer. Her family and
friends shared Nikki's story of courage and her hopes of helping
children with Build-A-Bear Workshop and that is how Huggable Heroes
was born. Huggable Heroes candidates, ages eight-18, can be
nominated by family, friends or anyone who knows of a young
person's good works. Over the years, Huggable Heroes have been
honored for a variety of worthy causes ranging from sheltering the
homeless to protecting the environment, providing books for
schools, supplies for the military and more.
Build-A-Bear Workshop awards each Huggable Hero with $10,000 (a
$7,500 educational scholarship and $2,500 from the Build-A-Bear
Workshop Foundation to be donated to the 501 (c)(3) charity of
Canadian cause of the Huggable Hero's choice). More information is
available at buildabear.com/huggableheroes.
About the Build-A-Bear Workshop Friends Count
Celebration Throughout 2012, Build-A-Bear Workshop® is
celebrating its 15th birthday and 100 million furry friends made.
To thank Guests for helping the company reach these milestones,
Build-A-Bear Workshop is hosting a year-long "Friends Count"
celebration. The celebration includes in-store events and
charitable activities. The company is also inviting Guests to share
and read stories about others who have made furry friends at
Build-A-Bear Workshop at the website buildabear.com/stories. For
more information and updates on Build-A-Bear Workshop and the
year-long "Friends Count" initiative visit buildabear.com®.
To view this release in a media-rich format, go to:
http://www.pwrnewmedia.com/2012/build-a-bear-workshop/huggable_heroes_finalists/index.html
About Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.
Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is the only global company that offers
an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment
experience. There are more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores
worldwide, including company-owned stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico,
Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and franchise stores in
Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Mexico and South
America. Founded in St. Louis in 1997Build-A-Bear Workshop is the
leader in interactive retail. Brands include make-your-own Major
League Baseball® mascot in-stadium locations, and Build-A-Dino®
stores. Build-A-Bear Workshop extends its in-store interactive
experience online with its award winning virtual world website at
bearville.com™. The company was named to the FORTUNE 100 Best
Companies to Work For® list for the fourth year in a row in 2012.
Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE: BBW) posted total revenue of $394.4
million in fiscal 2011. For more information, call 888.560.BEAR
(2327) or visit the company's award-winning website at
buildabear.com®.
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your interest in covering our business. As you write your story, we
would ask that you use our full name: Build-A-Bear
Workshop® and that when referencing the
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