According to Rose Marie Harty the donation of 200 Beanie Babies from the Story Lady Doll Museum to the Crime Victim Crisis Center was meant to be.

Friday, December 24, 1999

According to Rose Marie Harty the donation of 200 Beanie Babies from the Story Lady Doll Museum to the Crime Victim Crisis Center was meant to be.

&uot;It was really funny how it all happened,&uot; Harty said. &uot;We (the Story Lady board) have all these Beanies and wanted to give to a group that could use them.

&uot;I called up Marlene (Behle), and said, ‘I know, let’s give them to the Victim’s Crisis Center.’ And when we were working at the museum, Marlene had asked me to get something from the back,&uot; Harty continued. &uot;And there sitting on the carton was a flyer for the Crisis Center.&uot;

Little did Harty and Behle know, the CVCC just happened to be looking for close to 200 stuffed animals.

The timing was perfect.

Now, thanks to the Story Lady Museum and other local contributors, the Crime Victim Crisis Center’s 9-1-1 Comfort Bags will soon be distributed to local law enforcement officers to give to children when they are called to investigate.

&uot;When they respond to a crime scene, they can had out bags to each of the children,&uot; said Yolanda Martinez of CVCC. The comfort bags will help to ease a child’s fear, Martinez said.

The victims’ advocates at CVCC will also give the bags to children when CVCC gets calls.

&uot;If we deal with a domestic assault victim, we plan to give the bags to children,&uot; Martinez said.

She got the idea for the comfort bags after attending the Third Judicial Conference on Domestic Abuse. Each bag would contain a coloring book, crayons and a stuffed animal.

The bags, purchased and printed with CVCC funds, were decorated with hand prints of children at Albert Lea Community Child Care Center. They still plan to write 9-1-1 on each of the bags before distributing them.

In addition to buying the bags, CVCC printed the pages for the coloring book. The rest was provided by the community.

The coloring book was designed by a CVCC volunteer, Marlys Jentoft. The scenes touch on subjects of domestic violence, sexual abuse and self-esteem.

Plastic binders and crayons were provided by Nancy Vanderwaerdt, State Farm Insurance.

&uot;That was the one thing that was holding up the bags, the comfort toys,&uot; Martinez said.

While they had some stuffed animals donated, Martinez said CVCC planned on appealing to area churches to gather the rest of the toys.

But when they got the phone call from Marlene Behle, asking if the organization could use 200 Beanie Babies, everything came together quicker than expected.

And Martinez said the Beanies are perfect.

&uot;They can be held by anybody. They’re not gender or age specific. Both boys and girls love Beanies,&uot; Martinez said.

Even the littlest hands can squeeze and hug a Beanie, Behle said. And older children like them as well.

&uot;I’m so glad we did this,&uot; Behle said.

The Story Lady Doll and Book Museum’s board decided to donate some of its surplus Beanie Babies to community agencies. The Salvation Army got 19 dozen Beanies.

&uot;The whole board thought it was time to give out some of these things,&uot; Behle said. &uot;We feel we owe the community a little thanks for their support.&uot;

While Harty was happy the Beanies and comfort bags will help children in times of crisis, &uot;It would be nice if they never had to give them out,&uot; she said of crisis situations.