Norwood Seventh Grade Hero Donates Teddy Bears to Caritas Norwood Hospital

1/23/2007

Presenting their Teddy bear donation to Caritas Norwood Hospital are, left to right, Rachel Symes, Kellianne Symes and Kesleigh Eysie.

Kesleigh Eysie, 12, of Norwood has a generous spirit and generous friends. A seventh grader at Coakley Middle School, Kesleigh raised money to purchase more than 180 cuddly Teddy bears, which she recently donated to Caritas Norwood Hospital. This is the third consecutive year she has donated Teddy bears to help comfort children treated in the hospital’s emergency and pediatrics departments.

This year, Kesleigh’s best friend Kellianne Symes, 12, chose Kesleigh as the subject of her English class essay about heroes. She wrote about how much she admires her friend’s charitable work. As good deeds have a way of snowballing, the essay and Kesleigh’s efforts to raise money for the bears brought in more donations, including bears from other classmates and a donation from Boston Duck Tours.

“On behalf of Caritas Norwood Hospital, I would like to thank Kesleigh and everyone who helped her with the generous Teddy bear donation. The patient care staff is delighted to have the bears on hand to help ease the way for our young patients,” said Jessica Symonds, Caritas Norwood vice president of Development.

The 264-bed Caritas Norwood Hospital provides emergency, cardiology, advanced surgical, endoscopic, OB/GYN and Children’s Hospital Boston pediatric services and is a member of Caritas Christi Health Care, which is the second largest health care system in New England.

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