Back ST. LOUIS (Tuesday, December 17, 2002) — Each year more than 800 families throughout St. Louis and the Metro East lose their homes to fires. To help comfort these families, Ty Inc. has donated nearly 1,000 new Beanie Buddies to the Red Cross to be used in its disaster response throughout the community. “It’s amazing how much a simple teddy bear can comfort a person,” said Lois Flippen, a St. Louis Chapter disaster volunteer and Kirkwood resident. “When we hand children ‘Cashew the bear’, their faces light up and smiles almost always cross their faces. And a child’s smile helps reassure parents that everything will be alright.” “Ty is proud that our Beanie Buddies will help comfort children faced with crisis throughout the St. Louis and Metro East region,” said Dana Walton of Ty. “The American Red Cross is well-known for providing relief and comfort during disasters and our Beanie Buddies will help enhance that comfort.” Nationally, TY donated 150,000 Beanie Buddies to the Red Cross for disaster relief efforts. The bears will be used for more than 73,000 disaster relief operations across the country. About Ty Ty is the largest manufacturer and marketer of plush toys worldwide. Ty’s plush products include the popular Beanie Babies®, Pluffies™, Punkies™, Teenie Beanie Boppers™, Beanie Boppers™, Beanie Buddies™, Beanie Kids™, Ty Classic™, Baby Ty™ and Attic Treasures™. Ty products are sold in finer retail stores and are easily recognizable by the world-famous red Ty heart logo. About Red Cross Disaster Relief Red Cross disaster relief focuses on meeting people's immediate emergency disaster-caused needs. When a disaster threatens or strikes, the Red Cross provides shelter, food, and health and case work to individuals and families affected by disaster to enable them to resume their normal daily activities independently. The Red Cross also feeds emergency workers, handles inquiries from concerned family members outside the disaster area, provides blood and blood products to disaster victims, and helps those affected by disaster to access other available resources. About the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter Founded in 1917, the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter provides emergency and preparedness assistance more than 354,000 times to St. Louis-area residents each year. The Red Cross depends on the efforts of 14,700 volunteers and 150 staff to provide a wide range of community support services, including disaster relief, first aid and CPR training, water safety, adult daytime professional care, services to military personnel, assistance to homeless families, and support for blood services. The Chapter provides programs and services to St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County and Jefferson County in Missouri, as well as Monroe, Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois. In 2001, the St. Louis Area Chapter trained 57,854 people in CPR/First Aid.

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