A LITTLE girl who found solace in a teddy bear after the death of her father helped to raise almost £500 for other children to have teddy bears.
Ava Ramsden was five when her father Carl Ramsden, 30, died in March 2017.
Despite her grief, she raised the money so children like grieving children like herself could find some comfort in the bears.
Ava has now been nominated for a Proud of Barnsley award.
Carl had several health problems but his death came as a shock to his family.
Though they were separated, Ava’s mum Kirsty Taylor said she and Carl had remained good friends and Ava is close to his family.
To help her with her grief, Ava, now seven, was gifted a teddy bear which she called Rainbows.
Kirsty, 27, of Spencer Street, Barnsley, said: “Ava understood at the time, I was quite open with her.
“It took a little while getting used to things, I think it was a struggle for her to keep going to school and she felt a bit lost, really emotional and this teddy, which one of my friends gave to me, was like her right arm. She got really attached to it.
“She talked to it a lot, she told it about her day and how she was feeling.
“If we sat at the table and I asked her how she was feeling, she would find it difficult to say it to me.
“But with this teddy, she opened up about everything. It sat on her desk at school. It has been her coping strategy.”
Since the start of the new school year, Ava has decided to leave the teddy in her room and comes back to it after school.
One day, Ava asked Kirsty who had given her the teddy and if other boys and girls who needed a bear also got one. She became upset when Kirsty explained that not everyone gets a teddy bear.
“She said to me ‘mummy, why don’t we do something?’
“It shocked me a little bit because she was so young.
“I said we could do different things such as baking and thought it would be something we could do together and raise £50.
“But when she went into school, it just blew up a little bit.”
Ava chose to raise money for Winston’s Wish a childhood bereavement charity which also supported Ava in school.
Ava raised £485 by doing bake sales, a 5k walk with friends, washing and cleaning cars, a sponsored spelling test, a sponsored read and by keeping her bedroom tidy for a whole week. The charity said this amount of money would help 80 children like Ava.
Kirsty added: “I’m so overwhelmed when I look back at how she has grown. She is my strength.
“Kids are a lot stronger than we give them credit for. As a parent, you do worry when things like this happen, but looking back I didn’t have much to worry about, she’s so strong.
“I’m extremely proud of her.”
