Vicar ‘humbled’ as teddy bear campaign goes global

A campaign launched six days ago to encourage youngsters to donate their teddies to refugee children has gone international, leaving the trainee vicar and mother-of-three who set it up “humbled and shocked”.

Joy French set up Project Paddington after seeing photos of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi drowned on a Turkish beach.

She thought her Facebook initiative would be a small-scale venture in Sheffield, where she lives. Ms French said more than 4,000 people have joined the group, scores of schools have got involved, 30 regional co-ordinators have volunteered to collect the teddies across the UK, and people have pledged support from as far away as the US, Dubai, and New Zealand.