September 23, 2002

Lions and Tigers and Bears . . . Oh My!

— Mary O’Neill Collects Stuffed Animals for the NC Highway Patrol

O’Neill and friends (Photo: Ruthann Cage)

During August Mary E. O’Neill, budget manager of Industrial Extension Service (IES) at North Carolina State University, offered her office as a way station for dozens of stuffed animals en route to comfort children involved in automobile accidents.

For the past few years at annual conventions, the State Employee’s Association of North Carolina (SEANC) has sponsored teddy bear drives for the NC Highway Patrol. Troopers keep teddy bears and other stuffed animals in patrol cars for comforting children at accident scenes.

An enthusiastic member of SEANC, O'Neill is a delegate for District 39 and serves as the district communications chairperson. O’Neill started collecting the teddy bears two years ago, and it has become one of the two community service projects that IES sponsors each year.

During the month of August, O’Neill collected over 50 new or little-used stuffed animals, and her district (No. 39 — primarily composed of NC State University departments) collected over 500. O’Neill just came back from the 2002 SEANC convention, where approximately 850 stuffed animals were presented to the NC Highway Patrol.

Noting her now-empty office, O’Neill said, “My office is kind of bare right now,” and laughed at her own pun.

It will fill back up again, though.

— mcblief —

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