Nonprofit reunites Camp Mystic campers with 'lost' stuffed toys
As families come together to grieve, recover and pick up the pieces following the July 4 flash floods in Central Texas that left at least 120 dead and over 160 missing, one nonprofit is helping to reunite children with their "lost" stuffed animals following the traumatic event.
The Lost Stuffy Project founder Randi Jaffe told "Good Morning America" it's an immediate step that's making an "essential" difference for Camp Mystic campers who were directly affected by the flash floods, as well as their families.
"It's a really profound impact," Jaffes said. "We are paying for express shipping, overnight shipping. [The sooner] we can get these into these kids' hands, the better."
Jaffe, a child life specialist in New Jersey, founded the Lost Stuffy Project, formerly known as the LA Lost Stuffy Project, in January following the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, and the group has now expanded beyond California to respond to the Texas disaster.
"There have been probably about 15 families that we've gotten requests from," Jaffe said of the inquiries that the nonprofit has received since Sunday. "The recovery is just starting here. So we anticipate more needs and more requests."
Jaffe said requests coming in from families go beyond just replacing what a child may have left behind while evacuating from rising waters.
"Some of them are looking for stuffed animals that they left behind in their cabins or they were separated from during their rescue," said Jaffe. "And then also, we've been hearing from families where the daughters have died and they're looking for a replica of their stuffed animal."
"In one case, it was to place on the casket at [the girl's] funeral tomorrow," Jaffe continued. "So that's been kind of a new thing that we're helping with, to replace anything that was lost or things that … the families want to be replaced, not specifically for the children, but for the family to have in remembrance of them."
The Lost Stuffy Project's team searches for stuffed toys online and pays for them to be shipped via donated funds, according to Jaffe. For any toys that can't be found, the nonprofit partners with custom keepsakes company Budsies to create a replica for a family, with Budsies donating its services.
Jaffe said one of the nonprofit's followers initially spread the word about Lost Stuffy Project to a Camp Mystic family, but she hopes to raise more awareness about the nonprofit's mission and reach more families in Texas who may benefit from what the team is doing.
"We're hoping, with all of this exposure, that it's going to grow more and more, because of course, we have so many more families to help," said Jaffe. "We want to help every single family replace every comfort item."
According to Jaffe, some of the families have already shared how significant having a "found" stuffed toy has been for their kids, with one family saying their child cried "tears of joy" when they were reunited with their toy that they didn't expect to get back and another family saying their child who wasn't sleeping in the flood's aftermath can now sleep again.
"I want people in Texas and people that have been through traumatic experiences to know that there are so many people in the world who want the best for them, that want to help, that want to be part of the story, and want to see them have comfort," said Jaffe.
