Meet Campbell Remess. He’s 12 years old from Tasmania and has a great hobby. He spends his time making teddy bears which he donates to sick children.
He started making teddy bears three years ago. Now he has made over 800 stuffed animals and all of them have helped a sick child.
Usually Campbell brings his teddy bears to the Royal Hobart Hospital. His first idea was to buy toys for sick kids. But his mother reminded him he has eight siblings, i.e. the family doesn’t have the money, SBS reports.
The teddy bear magic
That didn’t stop him, though. Instead, he decided to make the teddy bears himself. “The first time i took a lot of practice,” said Campbell. “I hadn’t sewn anything before”.
He learned by trial and error and used free patterns for stuffed animals from the internet. He made the first teddy bear in about five hours. Now he can make one in about an hour. “I’ve just hijacked mum’s machine since,” he said, laughing. “She hasn’t got it back.
“If Campbell could be on that sewing machine 24/7, he would,” said his mother, Sonia. He even prefers it to playing video games.
Campbell visits the hospital every Thursday. ‘He looks at sadness and tries to turn it upside down,’ Sonia said.
The first every teddy bear Campbell made for his father. He was diagnosed with cancer. ‘Cancer gets worse with stress, so I made him the bear, so he could get rid of the cancer.’
His dad is currently cancer-free, although there is still a big risk of recurrence. Even so, he says that the teddy bear helped him a lot. “There’s a little bit of magic in them”, he adds.
Campbell explained his project with this: “I think being kind and not mean will change the world.” Those are some very, very wise words. Don’t forget them.
