SIMI VALLEY : Teddy Bears All Dressed Up for New Homes

Joyce Toms loves teddy bears.

So when the Ventura County Child Abuse & Neglect program needed some help dressing a dozen honey-colored bears, it seemed only natural for the Simi Valley account clerk to volunteer.

Toms took the naked bears with her to work at Simi Valley City Hall and persuaded a few co-workers to take them home and dress them.

Within a few days, the nattily dressed bears returned, transformed into a range of bear characters.

There was farmer bear, complete with straw hat, flannel shirt and dungarees. Bride bear was draped in an elegant lace gown, a wreath of cloth roses resting gently on her ears. Groom sat nearby, his black velvet jacket adorned with a rose boutonniere. And there was beach bear, sporting sunglasses, a bright blue and red bikini that Toms made herself.

“There is something so comforting about a teddy bear,” Toms said. “Really every child should have one.”

Toms set the bears on display at the office and word spread fast. Bring in more bears, her co-workers pleaded. We want to dress them up, too.

Toms did. A dozen bears grew to 60, enough to take over an office cubicle, dubbed “Bear Land.”

Today the bears leave City Hall and make their way into the arms of the boys and girls served by the county’s child abuse program.