The freshman class of Oak Hill High School and the National Honor Society have collected bears for the Oak Hill Fire Department.
The firefighters regularly carry bears on their trucks and distribute the stuffed animals, some homemade by the students to children who are victims of car wrecks or their house burns down.
According to Assistant Fire Chief Bob Begley, they are now out of stock from their last bear collection in 2020. OHFD called the school and they were excited to help out.
“When you’re using taxpayer’s money, it’s hard to spend it on bears. But the school has taken it on herself to take care of this program for us,” Begley said.
The assistant fire chief said they had a lady come to the fire station whose daughter was in fire prevention and received a bear twenty-some years ago. She still has that bear.
“This was started by the C&P Telephone Company women, the pioneering women back in the 70s. And we’ve been doing it ever since,” said Begley.
