Woman teams up with fire department to turn disaster into comfort for others
By Rheya Spigner
Click here for updates on this story
MILWAUKEE (WISN) — It’s a new initiative from the Milwaukee Fire Department to help people in their darkest moments. It all started with one woman, Glenda Diggs, determined to bring joy to the community and MFD determined to spread it.
It’s one unexpected moment that has now turned into so many little moments of hope.
“One day, we were just grocery shopping, and this woman came up and said she had some bears to donate. She had homemade — five garbage bags full of homemade bears that were absolutely gorgeous,” said Lt. Jessica Ziems with MFD.
“The kids who have had a really hard day, that’s when we donate or when we transport a kid in the ambulance, just something to hold onto,” Ziems said.
The hand-crafted bears are hidden in the bench of a fire truck. Lt. Jessica Ziems and HEO Justin Shock of the Milwaukee Fire Department make sure, whenever they can, that they’re ready to be a piece of comfort in a moment of need.
“When we take an oath as a firefighter, we’re swearing to help the community in emergency scenes out, so when opportunities like this come, it’s kind of like giving back to the community in a different way,” Shock said.
The bears are handed out to kids and sometimes shelters to ease some of the hardest times of their lives.
Chief Aaron Lipski of MFD spoke about how proud he was of his teammates for making sure this initiative is intentional and continues. Sharing that it’s moments like when a bear is shared that show help goes beyond the call of duty, it’s about care.
“It is a huge thing when you actually see the breathing rate go down and the trembling stop and the tears dry up — that is a big thing, that’s that child’s whole world in that moment,” Lipski said.
The person who created the bears is Milwaukee resident Glenda Diggs.
“The bears don’t have mouths, so they keep the kids’ secrets, it’s just special — it means the world that so many children are getting them,” Diggs said. “I lost everything when I was little in a fire. I knew there were some kids out there who needed some comfort in bear.”
After the August floods filled her basement with three feet of water, she knew there was one thing worth saving: her hand-crafted bears.
Five hours of intricate work for each bear, custom-made out of furniture scraps and now about 40 of them have been given out so far.
“We reached out to other people in the community, and the community stepped up. So, it’s kind of just neighbors helping neighbors, which is what it’s all about, ” Ziems said.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.