ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators 9th Annual "Teddy Bear Toss" Set for Saturday Night

January 11, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


The Gwinnett Gladiators ninth annual Teddy Bear Toss to benefit children's charities is this Saturday, January 14th when the Greenville Road Warriors visit the Arena at Gwinnett Center at 7:05 p.m.

In a unique hockey tradition, fans are encouraged to bring a new teddy bear or any type of stuffed animal to the game on Saturday to toss onto the ice and interrupt the game following the Gladiators first goal. The teddy bears and stuffed animals will be collected and distributed to children's charities in metro Atlanta and North Georgia. The 2012 event is sponsored in part by Xfinity from Comcast, Star 94, Fox-5, The Gwinnett Daily Post, and Mobile Communications.

"Teddy Bear Toss has been a huge success with a great response from our fans over the past eight seasons," said Gladiators Team President Steve Chapman. "Their enthusiastic, heartfelt support for this special community event has brought a joyous smile and warm hug to so many kids. I know our fans will make a huge difference again this year."

Over the past eight events, collections from fan participation in the Gladiators annual Teddy Bear Toss has totaled over 45,000 stuffed animals and teddy bears which have benefited numerous wide-ranging charitable organizations and activities, including children affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Past donations have been distributed to The Foster Children's Foundation, Cure Childhood Cancer, The Salvation Army, Gwinnett Children's Shelter, Rainbow Village, New Borns in Need, Gwinnett Children's Clinic, Georgia Cancer Specialists, Eastside Medical Center, Gwinnett County DFACS and The Children's Center for Hope and Healing.

This season, the Gladiators will be working with many of the same organizations to help their causes, and a special team-sponsored "Gladiators Care-A-Van" distribution activity will be conducted involving direct on-site player visitations and patient interaction. In addition, the Gladiators will be pre-allocating a portion of new bears and stuffed animals specifically designated to benefit Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. A select number of stuffed animals earmarked for this prestigious nationally-recognized facility which specializes in pediatric emergency and inpatient rehabilitation care, will be "bagged" at random upon entry to the Arena at Gwinnett Center to protect and enhance the sanitary conditions of these stuffed toys from exposure after being tossed onto the ice surface.

The Gladiators are the ECHL Affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres and the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League and are members of the ECHL, the Premier "AA" Hockey League and play all home games at the 11,355-seat Arena at Gwinnett Center, located just off I-85 on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth.

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