Delivering Smiles - One Teddy Bear at a Time

fifth-grader Zach Metcalfe has two very proud parents – and it’s not hard to figure out why. The 10-year-old has taken it upon himself to collect soft toys for patients at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for Christmas.

“I really just wanted to help give a smile to those kids,” Zach said. “Their parents have to give so much of their money to pay for other things, and taxes and stuff, so they can’t really afford all that much. I remember when I was a little kid and wanted (stuffed toys) and I just wanted to help give them a smile too.”

Zach also has a personal stake in all of this. A close friend of his from school has a little sister at the hospital battling mitochondrial disease. He heard Monday night her condition is not good and she is in the ICU. Zach’s mother, Becky Metcalfe, is asking all prayer warriors in the community to add the family to their lists as they struggle through this latest challenge.

“She started running a fever last night and they have taken her to the hospital.” Becky Metcalfe said, adding, “She is such a sweet girl.”

Zach hopes to collect 1,000 teddy bears or soft toys to take to the hospital before Christmas and he is asking for any community contributions he can get to achieve this. He has the support of his school in his endeavors. Of the more than 150 soft toys he’s collected so far, 82 came through Youth Elementary School.

“The school and the assistant principal have been very supportive,” said Zach’s father, Doug Metcalfe. “They have put out extra cardboard boxes and we get a phone call telling us when the boxes are overflowing and we need to come and pick them up.”

For Zach’s father, it is difficult to speak about his son’s efforts without displaying just how proud of him he is.

“We’re absolutely proud of Zach and what he’s doing,” Doug Metcalfe said. “He’s got such a tender heart and really cares about them. He just wants to do mission work and work with the children. It makes me very proud.”

His mother said through all of this, Zach has even managed to raise $250 in donations for the hospital as well. Anyone who would like to help Zach reach his mission of 1,000 teddy bears or soft toys in time to deliver them to children in the hospital before Christmas can contact his mother at beckymet@gmail.com.

“Just let me know and we can arrange where to drop them off or where we can pick them up,” she said.