SATW Gets Fuzzy

Teddy Bears Travel the World with the Society of American Travel Writers
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy may have had no hair but he’s undeniably a teddy bear that travels around the world to unique and exotic places with the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW). The Traveling Teddy program started 10 years ago as a geography outreach service to help teachers across North America interest their students about new people and places. Former SATW president, Jane Ockershausenl, took Traveling Teddy society-wide in 1999, and Lois Smith, the “den mother,” has been in charge of the project for years.

The program is simple. Students name a teddy bear that becomes their “bear ambassador” for the year. The bear travels around the globe, passed around from SATW member to SATW member who take pictures and collect information at each location he/she visits. These items, along with souvenirs and postcards are sent to the students, so they can keep track of the bear’s journey and learn about the places that he/she visits. At the end of the school year, an SATW member delivers the adopted bear to its students and presents a detailed tale while illustrating his/her travels with a slide show. Teachers and students are always happy to meet their bear ambassador and hear bear tales. Some schools also create elaborate displays from what the bear sent them. “It is an easy, fun way to get kids to learn that youngsters elsewhere are the same as they are…no matter the country or state,” SATW member Martin Hintz commented.

The globetrotting bears have had memorable adventures with SATW members, who all agree that these bears were wonderful traveling companions. Writer Bobbi Sotonoff, who is based in Chicago, took a bear kayaking on the Mississippi, hang gliding on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, dancing to a steel drum band in Nevis, hiking in Cambodia & Southern Thailand and walking down Broadway in New York City. Photographer Dennis Cox, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, has visited the Taj Mahal, traveled across the country on a motorcycle, boat, farm tractor and three-wheel bicycle, with bear in tow. Leslie Gilbert Elman, of New York City, visited Copenhagen to show her teddy the ice skaters at Tivoli Gardens and the bright red mailboxes, a true Danish symbol. Martin Hintz, from Wisconsin, has taken bears to Israel, Maine, Wisconsin, and Iowa, on a Caribbean cruise as well as ride a boat in Switzerland and Cincinnati’s never-used subway system.

In its 49th year, the Society of American Travel Writers is a non-profit professional association of writers, editors, photographers, electronic media journalists and public relations representatives. For more information on SATW or the traveling teddy program, visit www.satw.org

Note: The Canadian Chapter of SATW has two bears: Boomer is a polar bear that hails from Churchill, Manitoba, and EhBear resides in Toronto. Each travel widely and share their experiences in other countries with children in Canada.
www.satw.ca

March 31, 2005   Posted in: United States Central