Teddy bears across the region have united to bring joy to kids during the COVID-19 shutdown.
With the aid of Facebook page ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt! Geelong and Outer Suburbs’, teddy bears are sitting in strange and mysterious spots across the area, waiting to be discovered.
Although the idea is a global one, Lara resident Sal Wick started the Facebook page and bear mania has spread to the Bellarine Peninsula.
The premise is that people list their teddy bears with their street and suburb and children (and adults) can find them while on their daily walk while complying with social distancing rules.
Sal said she had more than 2000 people stating they had put bears at windows.
“I did not ever dream that the response would be this big,” she said.
“In fact when I first started the group I thought it would only reach my local suburb of Lara. Now it has gone as far as Winchelsea, Moriac, and Colac and Aireys Inlet and beyond.
“It also never occurred to me that the bear hunt has no age barriers. We have members from all ethnicities and age groups participating and I can see that it is bringing our neighbourhoods together.”
The bear hunt has been so successful, every town on the Bellarine is now participating.
“Ocean Grove and the Bellarine have been one of our highest contributors,” Sal said.
“One participant said her son counted over 158 bears during their exercise walk in their local area of Ocean Grove alone.”
Sal said the bear hunt also provided teddy bear owners with a sense of community.
“I’ve had an overwhelming response from members of the community,” she said.
“A 21-year-old reached out to me had just come back from overseas and was self-isolating and said she didn’t realise how much she really needed the community at a time like this until she heard a little boy laughing and squealing outside of her window saying ‘look mummy that bear has a hat!’.”
