RED BANK, NJ -- Buddy the Foster Care Bear acknowledged the hard work and charity of three Red Bank
Regional High School students, Laura Orsini, and Amanda and Katy Trotter, as he accepted their gifts of mounds and mounds of brand-new teddy bears on behalf of the children in foster care in Monmouth County. The ceremony took place in the high school library on January 30, 2003, surrounded by CN8 cameras and local newspaper reporters.

Buddy is the DYFS [Division of Youth and Family Services] foster care recruitment mascot. He appears at events such as this one and a recent State House ceremony with the Governor to honor foster parents and others who volunteer on behalf of children in foster care.

“We are very proud of these young people. They recognized that children in less fortunate circumstances need to have something to hold on to and love, then went about doing something to help,” explained Denise Smith, statewide foster care recruitment coordinator for the Department of Human Services.

The trio solicited help from their fellow members of the Spanish Honor Society and local businesses to collect bears throughout the fall semester. They will continue to distribute teddy bears as more come in. School principal Art Albrizio, guidance counselor Susan Rechel, and Spanish Honor Society advisor Faith DeRoos supported the girls in their efforts and attended the ceremony.

Besides being active in the Spanish Honor Society, the Trotter sisters are high school track stars who will attend Stanford University on scholarship. They play soccer, are active in many other school activities, and were recently honored by the Kiwanis Club.

Laura Orsini also runs track and plays soccer, works at the Turning Point restaurant after school, and will attend Gettysburg College. Her mother, Liz, is special assistant to the Acting Director of DYFS, Doris Jones, so Laura grew up knowing about the problems faced by children in foster care. She recruited her two best friends last year to collect over 300 pairs of mittens for children in foster care.

The girls were so excited about helping 300 children in 2001, that for this past holiday season they asked what else they could do? They decided every child needs a teddy bear, named their project “Operation Bucs for Bears” using their school mascot name “Buccaneers”, then reached out to the community and their friends to collect the 255 bears. Now each time a Monmouth County child is removed by DYFS from an unfavorable home environment and placed into a foster home, the DYFS District Office will give the child an Operation Bucs for Bears teddy bear to help ease the transition.

The Northern Monmouth DYFS Office located in Red Bank and the Southern Monmouth Office in Asbury Park supervise about 278 children in foster care in Monmouth County. Anyone interested in learning more about foster parenting can call 1-877-NJ FOSTER or visit the website at www.njfostercare.org.

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