The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) is a non-profit organization composed of members who can document they are direct descendants of an individual who participated in the Revolutionary War. In addition to promoting patriotism, historic preservation, and fellowship among those descendants who sacrificed to achieve independence, members of the Bartlesville Chapter of SAR are involved in our local community. The Bartlesville Chapter has been looking for a public service project to develop in the Bartlesville area to support citizens in need. Recently the SAR awarded a certificate to the Bartlesville Police Department for flying the American Flag, and during visits to the police department a discussion of departmental civic projects came about. Members of the Bartlesville Chapter SAR suggested providing teddy bears for the officers to use for control and comfort of children involved in a crisis as a possible idea. The police department administration expressed concerns regarding contamination (from bed bugs, insects), water/moisture and sunlight damage due to improper storage before providing those types of items to the department. (The department has had problems with these issues from previous projects.) The SAR offered a solution by providing a service where contact at the department would provide the Bartlesville Chapter with what items are needed for the officers in the field. The items would then be purchased by the SAR and shipped directly to the police department in real time. This eliminates the need for local storage and possible damage to those items before they reach the police department. Teddy bears and baby blankets were the first items discussed with the police department, and all agreed they would be the ones to use to get the project started. The Bartlesville Chapter SAR felt that the project should have a name and Teddy Bear Run was tagged as the project name.
Proposal: The Bartlesville Chapter of the SAR proposes to be the pilot organization and reinstate a project with the Bartlesville Police Department that provides teddy bears and possibly other “like” items to the department administration. The Teddy Bears will be distributed to officers who work with children in a crisis. If the pilot is successful, expansion to other first responder organizations in Bartlesville and in Washington County would be possible.
Goal: The goal of this project is to help provide police, fire, and other first responders in Washington County with teddy bears and other needed items for use with children found in crisis situations. This would also reinstate a program that was very successful in the past, that had to be discontinued for a variety of reasons. Specifically, when first responders are called to a fire, domestic abuse, or crisis situations where children are involved, they can give a teddy bear to the child for something to hold on to and comfort them.
The SAR also proposes to partner with other public organizations who would like to donate toward this community wide effort. In no way is this service intended to replace any other services provided in these situations.
The Bartlesville Chapter proposes to use funds donated to purchase teddy bears and other materials identified by the first responders, such as baby blankets, diapers, items of clothing, and similar necessities needed in an emergency. In the past, they depended on generous donations of items from the public but that was not sustainable. The SAR proposes to establish a new process that incorporates the use of a fund whereby individuals or organizations can donate monies to be used to purchase items needed that the first responders would provide. The Bartlesville Chapter then would purchase the items from internet vendors to be delivered directly to the first responder’s locations for their use as needed.
Process: This public service project would be coordinated by the Bartlesville Chapter of the SAR through contact within the first responder’s organization to purchase items as funds allow. The criteria for distribution of the items will be developed and maintained by the first responder, the department administration, unions and teams.
The Bartlesville Chapter of the SAR will provide an individual to serve as the coordinating contact for communication with the first responder’s department administration POC for items to be purchased. The SAR will establish and maintain a dedicated “Teddy Bear Run” account that will receive donations and utilize funds from this account to purchase requested items, track the items, and arrange for delivery of the items directly to the first responder. This will eliminate any handling of items by anyone outside of the first responder organizations and prevent any contamination of the items, which has been a problem in the past. The SAR will work to establish an accounting system to audit donation activities and provide a yearly audit for the project. The SAR has completed and filed with the Oklahoma Secretary of State the appropriate Oklahoma Tax form for non-profits in order that it may accept outside donations. Examples of local internet vendors for the project would be Amazon, Walmart, Atwood’s, and Tractor Supply.
It will be the responsibility of the SAR coordinator to maintain a record file of donated funds and provide a report to organizations that partner with SAR for funding the project.
The SAR organization is working to add the names for “Fund Donating Partners” and “First Responder Organizations and Service Organizations” on separate pages of the web site as part of the project on the SAR Web page. Each area would get their page on the SAR web site being part of the project. The web site for Bartlesville SAR organization is: http://www.bartlesville-sar.com
Donations can be made to “SAR-Teddy Bear Run” and sent to:
SAR- Teddy Bear Run
Gerard Desormeau
24258 N. 3980 Rd.
Bartlesville, Oklahoma 74006-0237
Email: gdesormeau@bartnet.net
Phone: 918-766-134