The Story of The Love Bears

On a quiet Sunday afternoon in 1991, a lovely young woman named Martha Love enjoyed a leisurely drive down a Tennessee highway after church. Riding along with her were her young son, Andrew, and her good friend, Fanny. Soon she would give birth to a second baby, and their family would be complete. Martha Love’s life should have stretched out for years of happiness.
But life holds no guarantees, and that day, Martha lost control of her car. Later, desperate doctors saved her unborn baby through emergency surgery, but Martha died two days later. Baby Will Love joined his brother Andrew, never to know his wonderful mother.
Later, Martha’s friends from church remembered their feelings of helplessness as they tried to comfort two-year-old Andrew, afraid and lonely in the hospital, crying for the mother he would not see again. For months these ladies put their creativity and caring together and decided to launch the "LOVE BEARS" project in Martha Love’s memory and to honor Andrew and Will.
Your friends at the Highland View Church of Christ have donated materials, time and energy to make up these friendly little bears to comfort children in need -- fully washable and free of charge, a Love Bear is meant to convey love to children like Andrew. Love Bears have found eager, tender owners at places like the Ronald McDonald House, Methodist Medical Center, Family Crisis Center, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, Women’s Shelters, to children in Romania and Mexico, and to many others.
That tragic day, we didn’t have a Love Bear to help Andrew with his loss, but we are ready to help the next hurting child. We will make the bears as long as children need them.