Elis Hug Bugs
"Hi my name is Laura. I live in Arizona with my son, Eli. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2000, at 15 months old. He is 22 years old now and doing great! However, while growing up, he suffered low blood sugar seizures. It is scary to be a child and have a medical emergency. Eli fondly remembers one time when a medic gave him a small teddy bear and it made his experience less frightening.
Eli and I want to help kids in similar situations. We want to offer fire/police departments free elishugbugs! Our goal is to arm first responders with hugbugs so when they are called out to assist children in medical emergencies or domestic violence situations, they have hugbugs in their vehicle to give a child for comfort! I’ve worked in the social services field for over 30 years, so I’m passionate about this project, and seeing it through. When the initial hugbugs are finished, I will be contacting local fire/police departments so they can distribute the hugbugs to children in crisis, at no cost to them! I’ve allotted 400 dollars of my personal money to purchase the initial hugbugs from Etsy artists. I chose Etsy because I want to support small businesses and I want elishugbugs to be made in the USA. My Etsy artists are on standby, waiting to make more!"
YOU Can Help!
1. Donations of any small crochet/knitted bugs that meet the specifications of a safe elishugbug. Ladybugs, butterflies, flies, bees, beetles, snails, etc. 2. Donation via GoFundMe. By donating $20.00, we can get 4 elishugbugs made. That means $20.00 donation will help 4 children!
3. Word of mouth! Link your friends to get the word out to support elishugbugs! This would be a great project for school groups, scout groups, senior centers, kindness groups, etc. Anyone can get involved!
Address for Donations
Laura Day 151 W. Superstition Blvd. #214 Apache Junction, AZ 85117
Q: What do you think has been the key to your success?
I think the key to our success is that once I had the idea of Eli’s hug bugs, I didn’t tell myself the negative reasons why I shouldn’t do it. I think people let fear of failure dictate their behavior and I didn’t let that fear stop me. Self talk is important for any type of success. It’s like the saying goes, “Be careful what you say to yourself because you are listening”. We thought Eli’s hug bugs was a great idea and got caught up in the idea of spreading kindness in 2022. Let’s face it, the past 2 years have been extremely stressful and I wanted to do something positive this year. I also had the opportunity to follow my idea because my parents gave Eli and I Christmas money and asked that we donate $400.00 to a charity of our choice. Eli and I had talked about donating teddy bears to first responders, because of his experience, but $400.00 wasn’t going to get us far. The more we talked about it, the more we wanted to do our own thing. I came up with the idea of Eli’s hug bugs and Eli loved it. Once we decided to create Eli hug bugs, we started reaching out to the community and first responders to get support. I joined a church group of ladies who crochet and sew for local charities and they are helping make bugs. Several first responders have asked for our bugs and are carrying them in their vehicles. Eli’s hug bugs wouldn’t be successful without the support of the community!
Q: What message do you have for adults or youth who may be struggling with things right now?
I would remind them that things are always changing. So, if you are struggling today, tomorrow will be different. Also, if you are struggling reach out and talk to someone. Even if you can’t fix your situation, talking about it will help. Talk to a friend or talk to a professional to get a different perspective on the situation. I think sometimes we can get stuck in our own thoughts and talking to someone is a great way to see if there’s another way to think about a situation. Also, use healthy coping skills. Using drugs/alcohol will only make things worse down the road. Instead, go for a walk or hike. Call a friend. Use art and music as therapy. One of the best ways to feel better is to “be of service” to others. Volunteer at the dog shelter. Make food boxes for Genesis here in AJ. Learn how to crochet and make Eli hug bugs! Find something that brings you joy and do it!
