Northwest Guilford High School Senior Helps Kids at Brenner Children’s Hospital

February 18, 2009

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – When Megan Hitchcock was little, she took comfort in a special teddy bear. She decided to bring the same comfort to patients at Brenner Children’s Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
On Friday, Feb. 20 at 2 p.m., the Northwest Guilford High School senior will deliver 85 Build-A-Bear Workshop® stuffed teddy bears to the children’s hospital.

For Hitchcock, this donation is part of her required senior project. She knew she wanted to base her project on helping children before she even received the assignment. Her project is titled “Hope in a Teddy Bear” and her goal was to provide stuffed teddy bears for children in the hospital.

“I remember how much my teddy bears meant to me when I was little, so I thought why not spread that same support to children in the hospital,” said Hitchcock, who is planning a career in pediatric medicine.

Hitchcock raised more than $1,300 in donations from neighbors, friends and family. The bears were purchased at a local mall where Hitchcock and a few of her friends assembled the bears just in time for their special delivery.

In addition to the bears, Hitchcock plans to donate books, puzzles and movies to Brenner for the playroom.

Brenner Children’s Hospital is a 160-bed pediatric hospital with more than 120 pediatric specialists in over 30 areas of pediatric medicine. Each year, the children’s hospital treats more than 4,500 sick children from North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. For more information about the children’s hospital, visit www.brennerchildrens.org.

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Media Contacts: Lisa Long, lclong@wfubmc.edu, at (336)716-4588; Bonnie Davis, bdavis@wfubmc.edu; or Rae Bush, rbush@wfubmc.edu (336) 716-4587.


Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Wake Forest University Health Sciences and Brenner Children’s Hospital. The system comprises 1,154 acute care, rehabilitation, psychiatry and long-term care beds and is consistently ranked as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report. Brenner Children’s was named one of the top children’s hospitals in the nation by Child magazine.

Media Relations

Megan Lee: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587