Donated holiday toys play dual role as therapy

TUCSON, Ariz. - (KGUN) — Pro athletes build their own community in the locker room and on the field of play. Fans can pick up on those strong relationships and follow a franchise's call to help a community charity drive.

Ardent followers of the Tucson Roadrunners showered the ice in Tucson Arena with teddy bears last Saturday. The team asked the community to contribute to one of several holiday donation drives the AHL franchise has championed and supported for years.

Nine on Your Side also learned, after talking to healthcare workers at Banner Health Diamond Children's Medical Center, team players and fans have helped bring comfort to patients of all ages.

Tradition dictates that, as soon as the home team slaps a puck into the opponent's net for their first goal of the game, thousands of fans launch their bags filled with stuffed animals onto the rink.

Roadrunners team captain Adam Cracknell stood on the ice, watching fans join in the fun for the franchise's sixth annual teddy bear toss. It was a bright spot, Cracknell said, in a game without a coveted win.

"Great turnout," he said. "Unfortunately, (we) didn't get a win, but to see all the teddy bears getting thrown on the ice, (knowing) where it's going and who it's going to, that's such a great cause."

"We have 3000 diehards that come to every game, they're a part of everything we do," Roadrunners team president Bob Hoffman said. Hoffman also said the franchise had collected close to 7,000 thousand stuffed animals throughout the year, including Saturday's collection. Most of this year's haul will go to kids receiving foster care support through Easterseals Blake Foundation and Aviva Children's Services.

"It's something that's really special because, not only the visual, the seeing the bears fly onto the ice — we're able to create a memory," Hoffman said, "give them something that maybe they wouldn't have gotten otherwise."

The giving did not end after Saturday. Roadrunners mascot Dusty and several team employees dropped off dozens of bins worth of toys Monday. That was the culmination of fans' contributions for the latest annual toy drive, so kids going through treatment at Banner Diamond Children’s can unwrap a gift and feel empowered.

"In the hospital, there's not a whole lot of choices that they have control over," Hadley Trull, Banner Medicine's associate director of child life, said.

"They don't get to choose when they go home when they have surgery. When they do their medicine. And so with these items, we give them that mastery and control."

Trull and her team help clinical workers by using specific toys to guide young patients through difficult conversations. "I always tell people that just like stethoscopes are the nurses and physicians' tools, toys are our tools that we use with our patients," she said.

Before the start of these big toy drives, Trull said she, her team and experts working for Banner Health let the Roadrunners and other community partner know which toys they need and who will benefit most from these gifts. "What we're finding is that our teen population often gets overlooked and our infant population often gets overlooked," she said.

"If we're doing a therapeutic activity, maybe to decrease some anxiety, we need to create a coping plan," Trull said, "so we need stress balls we need fidget toys we need deep breathing, pinwheels, and whistles and bubbles."

For the most part, community partners like the Roadrunners have answered that need for specific contributions, on and off the ice and at all times of the year. Examples include players spending time with kids at the local Boys and Girls Club or teaching fans to skate at the holiday ice rink downtown.

Trull said she and Diamond Children's care experts hope generous neighbors can continue to support the hospital with targeted toy donations throughout the calendar year.