My life is busy--work, family, you get the picture. And while the Traveling Bear Society doesn't take all that much time to run, I find myself going back and forth between wishing I could do more and wondering whether I should keep going at all. In fact, the other day, when I received a new box of bears, I told my husband this might be the last one. The next morning, a college student in Oregon opened fire on his English class, and I knew I couldn't let the Traveling Bear Society go so easily.
Things haven't worked the way I anticipated. I was hoping to get stories back from people who have received bears, to hear about where they went next, and that hasn't happened. But maybe that's OK. Maybe these bears can still serve their purpose. Maybe it's enough that we're getting them out there into the world. So we'll keep going, as long as we can.
But the challenges remain, and this is the part I don't want to have to write. We operate with almost no budget. We started a year ago with donations totaling a little more than $200, and the only thing we need to pay for right now is envelopes and postage. But mailing two bears to Europe earlier this year claimed a full third of our money supply, and the other bears claimed most of the rest. I have enough to send out a few more bears, but after that, there will be nothing left.
On one hand, I have no problem bankrolling what I can: mailing a bear every few months isn't that expensive. But I need to know I'm not the only one who cares. Would you like to see the Traveling Bear Society continue? If the answer is yes, can you donate a few dollars? It doesn't take much--just a few bucks to keep these bears going out. If you feel so inclined, please give. You can do so via PayPal: http://travelingbearsociety.weebly.com/donate.html.