Prayer Bears Head to the Police Station to Help Kids in Crisis
In a cold courtroom filled with fear, someone hands you a teddy bear. Suddenly, you’re not facing it all alone.
That’s the heart behind a new partnership bringing JOY FM Prayer Bears into the hands of children in Fayette County.
Prayer Bears In The Hands of Police Officers
It all began when Deputy Mark Wiedau, a corrections officer, was listening to JOY FM on the radio. He heard about Prayer Bears! He heard about how these soft reminders of comfort donated by JOY FM listeners were going to kids in foster care and children walking through painful seasons.
Deputy Wiedau knew the very kids who needed them: the ones who step into Fayette County courtrooms every day.
Many are scared, some are in foster care, and some are facing the people who hurt them. He wondered if a bear could help bring some comfort.
When he reached out to JOY FM, the answer was immediate: absolutely.
The Impact That A Small Bear Can Have
And as he shared his heart for the children, his voice cracked with emotion. Later, when he picked up 10 boxes filled with Prayer Bears, his eyes showed just how much this mattered. You could tell he knew that this was going to bring hope to the nearly 300 children who pass through those courtrooms each year.
The vision didn’t stop there. Fayette County State’s Attorney Brenda Mathis suggested giving bears directly to police officers and dispatchers, each one stitched with a police station patch! That way, officers could discern in the moment when a child needed comfort most—whether in court, during a call, or in the middle of a crisis.
From a single phone call to a growing county-wide initiative, Prayer Bears are now serving both children and the officers who protect them.
Before the end of the year, thousands more bears will make their way to police departments, homes, hospitals and foster care agencies. God is working in our city. He is using you…and yes, these cute little prayer bears!
THANK YOU for making this possible!
