Leonardtown, MD – During the month of February, the Maryland State Police Leonardtown Barrack hosted the First Annual Stuffed Animal Drive in coordination with the Hollywood Volunteer Rescue Squad, the Mechanicsville Volunteer Rescue Squad, the Leonardtown Volunteer Rescue Squad, and the Ridge Volunteer Rescue Squad. The event was a huge success with thousands of stuffed animals being donated from our community.
The Stuffed Animal Drive was the result of the positive responses received from our community regarding a picture which was posted on the Maryland State Police- Leonardtown Barrack Facebook page on December 29, 2015. The picture depicted several Troopers holding a few animals which were donated by an employee of Food Lion. As a result, the Maryland State Police decided to host the First Annual Stuffed Animal Drive. The drive was a great success and the animals will be used by all the participants as comfort objects to children of traumatic situations. The comfort object (stuffed animal) is an item used to provide psychological comfort during unusual or traumatic situations such as car crashes, victim of a crime, witness to a crime, or when coping with a loss or feeling sick and/or injured. It is well known among law enforcement and fire/ rescue services that stuffed animals provide a calming effect when dealing with children on scenes of these incidents.
On Saturday, March 12, 2016, the Maryland State Police Leonardtown Barrack distributed the stuffed animals to the Hollywood Volunteer Rescue Squad, the Mechanicsville Volunteer Rescue Squad, and the Leonardtown Volunteer Rescue Squad. The Ridge Volunteer Rescue Squad was unable to receive their stuffed animals because of a prior obligation; they will be receiving their donations on Monday, March 14, 2016.
Additional media of the event has been posted to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MarylandStatePoliceLeonardtownBarrack/