Bringing bears, cheer to Iraqi kids
O.C. man leads project to send stuffed animals, cards to children in hospitals.
BY MATTHEW L. GREEN
Published in the Orange County Register - 26 April 2003
LADERA RANCH, CA – Tom Riles is used to the strange phone calls – the Super Bowl player wanting to meet him or the lady who said, "You saved my life" – though he had never crossed paths with the callers.
 His next unusual call might just come from Iraq – likely a thank-you call, of course.
Riles' Empathy Foundation is collecting teddy bears and get-well cards nationwide for children hospitalized in Iraq. He's expecting many more donations of the furry friends to be dropped off today during a fair in Ladera Ranch.
Residents from south Orange County and as far away as New Jersey are sending the bears and cards to the iGallery, the homebuying information center in Ladera. On Monday, the gifts will be taken to Camp Pendleton, where they will be shipped to Marines in Iraq who will hand-deliver them to children.
"If we can put a smile on one face, it's all worth it," said Riles, who moved to Ladera recently from New Jersey. "We wanted to give something back."
Riles' fuel for giving back: the hospitalization of his daughter nearly two decades ago in an intensive care unit from a rare case of strep throat and chickenpox. She survived, but Riles started to wonder about other families suffering similar circumstances: the fears that come with having a child in the hospital and the reality of medical bills and insurance questions.
So Riles began handing out teddy bears to hospitalized children. In 1995 he started the nonprofit foundation.
People took notice. Lee Rouson, a two-time Super Bowl winner with the New York Giants, has helped Riles pass out bears. On Valentine's Day 2001, one of Riles' stuffed animals played a special role in one woman's life in a New Jersey hospital. Each of the bears being passed out had a special message for mothers of the sick kids: Get a mammogram. One mom took the advice, and was diagnosed with cancer. She phoned Riles to say he saved her life. She was receiving chemotherapy and had a chance to survive.
Riles and his family moved to Ladera last year to get a taste of California culture and to expand the foundation.
The move has paid off. Locals – including volunteers Sheri and Dan Fitzgerald and teachers and students at Camp Pendleton's San Onofre School – helped him think up, plan and execute the charity drive for Iraqi children.
"Kids relate to other kids," said Sheri Fitzgerald of the students. "They feel better when they help each other."
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