(This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette on December 9, 2003)

Care bears: Enterprise born of illness and recovery

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

By Kathy Samudovsky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Jill Hasenkopf-Miller and her mother lead a plush life these days. Sort of.

The Saegertown, Crawford County, residents co-own and operate Charity Bear Co., a steadily growing $500,000-a-year business that designs and sells fund-raiser teddy bears themed around diseases and medical conditions. It primarily raises money for medical research and awareness of life-threatening illnesses.

Hasenkopf-Miller, 35, and her mother, Kathryn Hasenkopf, 58, formed the company in 2001 after the daughter had had a kidney transplant and breast cancer. Both women wanted to do something special to make the lives of others affected by serious illnesses a little more, well, bearable.

"I'm cancer free and rejection free at the moment, but I'm always afraid that my cancer's going to come back. I was at stage three, which is really advanced. It beats all statistics that I'm here," Hasenkopf-Miller said.

Her mother, who is in remission from uterine cancer, handles the day-to-day operations while her daughter attends Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine to become a doctor.

Charity Bear occupies half of the Saeger House, the 1840s homestead in Saegertown, several miles north of Meadville. The company has two bear product lines: retail fund raiser and custom. At least 10 percent of the proceeds of every bear sold goes to charity.

"We say 10 percent, but in reality we donate everything we can. There are still times when we donate half or all of the sales or donate the bears for free so an organization can sell them. It all depends on our operating expenses at the time," Hasenkopf-Miller said.

There are 40 fund raiser bears, ranging in costs from $4 to $10 each, depending on quantity purchased. The 8-inch-tall beanies come with a colored awareness ribbon over their hearts, a hang tag with a poem and charity I.D., a quirky name and design features that represent a disease, medical condition or charitable cause.

"Parker" is named for Parkinson's disease, "Harmony" for AIDS, "Sporty" for organ donor transplant games and "Forget-Me-Not" for Alzheimer's disease.

"Hope the Survivor Bear" for Breast Cancer Awareness has longer fur than the other bears because her hair grew back after treatment. "Link," the Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Bear, has a pocket to hold a card that helps a person in need ask for help. "Passion," the Lupus Research Bear, comes with a visor because those with this autoimmune disease must avoid sunlight.

Profits go back into the company to make more bears or cover operating costs. Neither woman accepts a paycheck.

Last year, the company sold more than 100,000 bears and donated $40,000 to charity, partly due to partnerships with nonprofits such as the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association.

This year, more than 112,000 bears have been sold and the company hopes to donate $65,000.

"We're not just a bear company making money off of other people's illnesses. We have no money; we've struggled with the disease; we've suffered and felt the pain," Hasenkopf said.

In 1986, Hasenkopf-Miller was a 17-year-old Saegertown High School senior when she developed flu-like symptoms. Tests showed she had lost 50 percent of her kidney functions, possibly from an undiagnosed case of strep throat in her childhood.

A special diet and careful monitoring kept her fairly healthy until she turned 26, when her kidneys failed. She had a transplant in August 1996. Then the next year, she learned of her breast cancer.

As a distraction to dialysis and chemotherapy, she and her mother collected the Ty Beanie Babies that were popular at the time.

"We thought it was a blast, but after we had so many we thought: 'These are really neat but they don't really mean anything. Wouldn't it be great to make a bear that stands for something?' "the daughter said.

The first charity bear was a fuzzy white "Gift of Life" Organ Donation Awareness Bear. It led to a partnership with the National Kidney Foundation of Western Pennsylvania.

"We're very thankful for [their] efforts financially and for helping to spread the word about organ transplantation," foundation CEO Deb Hartman said. "Jill is an inspiration. It's remarkable that through all of her pain, suffering and trauma, she looked for a way to turn the focus to how she could help others."

The second product was "Hope" the Breast Cancer Research Bear, which has remained the company's most popular bear.

An appearance on NBC's "Today" show in the summer of 2001 catapulted the company into a full-fledged online company, drawing customers from as far away as Sweden and Japan.

The bears are sold primarily through the Internet, but retail stores and catalogs carry them. In Pittsburgh the products are sold in the gift shops of UPMC Shadyside, Allegheny General Hospital and the Hillman Cancer Center.

"It's been an amazing journey. We're so grateful that we can help so many people, even in a small way," Hasenkopf-Miller said.

For more information, visit www.charitybear.com or call 814-763-6755 or 1-866-763-BEAR.

(Kathy Samudovsky can be reached at ksamudovsky@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3866.)

(This article appeared in The Meadville Tribune on June 4, 2001.  Photo provided courtesy of The Meadville Tribune)

Beary Charitable: Local bean-bag bears help do-good organizations

By Mary Spicer
Meadville Tribune

SAEGERTOWN - When Saegertown resident Kathy Hasenkopf turns on her computer and goes online, every day brings a new opportunity to help others, she says.

Through their Web site, www.charitybear.com, Hasenkopf and her daughter Jill, are making a difference in the lives of people across the nation to whom life has not always been kind.  They own The Charity Bear Company, which designs and markets small stuffed bears.

Since the company's founding, more than $35,000 has been raised for the American Cancer Society and 12,000 bears have been sold to benefit breast cancer research in conjunction with the Breast Cancer Network.

They helped send 28 athletes representing Team Pittsburgh to the Transplant Games, while 70 homeless children in Pittsburgh area received Christmas presents, socks, undergarments and blankets during the last holiday season.

And that's just the beginning.

It all started more than four years ago, when Jill was working at Allegheny College at the time, and on the days when she had to go to dialysis, Jill would "come home, take a little nap and then go to work."

In the midst of all that, "we were chasing beanie babies -- like everyone else," Hasenkopf said, and one day it occurred to both of them that they should design a beanie baby-type bear and donate the money to the Kidney Foundation.

"At that point, Jill hadn't gotten her kidney -- we hadn't been blessed that way, yet -- but we were thinking that we had to help in some small way," she said.  Then Jill got her transplant, and the family went on with life. 

For awhile.

Jill got engaged, and then she developed breast cancer.  "We went through chemotherapy, and radiation and the surgery -- and through all that, we were still contemplating doing the beanie baby, but it just got put aside."

When mother and daughter realized if they were ever going to do it, they'd need money, they got on eBay and just started selling dolls they'd been collecting.  "It was very fruitful, and we were thrilled," Hasenkopf said.  From the proceeds of their first major sale, The Charity Bear Company was born.

"The Gift of Life" bear, a white charmer with green ribbon and bow, was the first.  And 2,000 Gift of Life bears later, 28 participants representing Team Pittsburgh traveled to the annual Transplant Games.For obvious reasons, "Hope," a pink breast cancer bear, was next -- complete with her own pink hat.  "The three rosettes on Hope's hat stand for surgery, radiation and chemotherapy -- the three steps a woman has to go through," Hasenkopf said.

And then came "Mercy," the Red Cross nurse bear garbed in a World War I-era outfit; "Arty," the bright red heart bear; "Share," the annual holiday bear whose profits go to feed and shelter the homeless; "Faith," the women's cancer research and projects bear; and "Harmony," the AIDS research bear whose proceeds will benefit the Northwestern Connecticut AIDS Project.

The newest Charity Bear is "Victory," a blue bear named in memory of Victor C. Bush, a former Saegertown area resident and insurance man.  Part of the proceeds from the sale of Victory will go toward men's cancer programs, Hasenkopf said.  Victory will go on sale June 1.

"Billy," the children's lymphoma/leukemia bear; "Freedom," the Veterans' Hospital memorial bear; and "Rachael," the children's cancer research bear, are all soon to come.

"People have become inspired by the bears and charitable groups are using them for fund-raisers across the nation," Hasenkopf said.

The bears, which are made in China, may be purchased individually or in quantity, and a newly-introduced program allows bears, like "Victory," to be designed in memory of someone, Hasenkopf said.  Ideas for bears and links with charities come from a variety of sources, Hasenkopf said.

As for Kathy and Jill's motivation, "You can't not want to help people -- no matter what their cause," Kathy said, adding they're working very hard to produce more and more bears for charity.

As the company has flourished, so has Jill.  Today, she is married to Erik Miller and planning to attend Temple University School of Medicine in preparation for career as a nephrologist.  She graduated from Allegheny College and Duquesne University, where she did post-graduate work, and from a German university where she received a degree in German.

She is in good health, although she has lymphodeno which requires treatments.  The disease causes Jill's arms to swell, according to her mother.

However, Jill is doing very well, her mother says, and the two are now working on designs for Charity Bears for next year.

"We feel our special-needs bears belong in hospital gift shops.  We don't just want to make 1,500 bears or 2,500 bears and have people sell them.  We want to have a really good business where those bears are sitting on the shelf of a gift shop and the people are buying them, so it's a continual gift....They'll all get a check at the end of every year, and that will be so neat," she said.  "When we started, it was for one specific reason, to help National Kidney.  Now it's taken off into other areas, and we're just thrilled."

While Charity Bears is not a non-profit organization, Hasenkopf said most or all of the proceeds beyond the cost of materials are donated to charity.

(This article appeared in The Meadville Tribune on July 16, 2002)

The Messenger: Awareness is the goal of Transplant Games medalist

By Lisa Byers
Meadville Tribune

SAEGERTOWN - Nearly five months ago, Chris Klug captured the imagination - and the hearts - of Americans by winning the bronze medal in the men's parallel giant slalom at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Sure, at the same time several athletes were gaining worldwide attention - namely Canadian figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier - but none touched more hearts than Klug, who had received a life-saving liver transplant just five months prior to the beginning of the Games.

From June 25-29, nearly 2,000 individuals who had faced and overcome similar adversity, participated in the National Kidney Foundation's United States Transplant Games, which were held at Disney's Wide World of Sports TM Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

And wouldn't you know it, there was Crawford County smack in the middle of the competition, represented by Saegertown's Jill Hasenkopf-Miller, a kidney transplant recipient and breast cancer survivor, who was the only participant from both Crawford and Erie counties.

"I never thought I had a chance at getting a medal in either of these events," said Hasenkopf-Miller, a swimmer who brought home bronze medals in the 50-meter freestyle and the 50-meter backstroke, "especially the 50 free because it was the most competitive."

Hasenkopf-Miller attended the Games - a four-day event filled with both games and ceremonies honoring donor families - competing with Team Pittsburgh, a group of fellow transplant recipients ranging from northern West Virginia to State College.

Now 34 years old, Hasenkopf was diagnosed with kidney failure at the age of 26 from what doctors believed to be an undiagnosed case of strep throat. It was then that she joined nearly 80,000 Americans on an organ transplant list. After 18 months of dialysis and waiting, Hasenkopf-Miller finally got the call from Pittsburgh's Allegheny General Hospital that a kidney had been located.

Since then, Hasenkopf-Miller has attempted to do everything possible to help others become aware of the benefits of organ transplantation, something that eventually included signing up for the Transplant Games.

Hasenkopf-Miller, an Allegheny College alumnus, trained approximately two weeks at Mellon Pool for the competition with the help of Meadville High graduate Kellyn Rielly.

"She was great," Hasenkopf-Miller said. "I trained with her for about two weeks. It was the first time I had ever been on a block and the first time I had ever done anything competitive.

"It was fun and very competitive."

Swimming draws the most participants of any of the Transplant Games' 10 sports, which include badminton, 3-on-3 basketball, bowling, cycling, golf, 5K race, racquetball, table tennis, track and field, and volleyball. Many of those sports are non-strenuous, making it possible for everyone to participate. There are a total of 12 different swimming events where men, women and children are split up according to age.

Like the Olympics, the Games begin with an Opening Ceremony during which all 50 teams march into the stadium. Each team wore a hat specific to its city. For example, Team Pittsburgh wore hard hats for the "Steel City." Texans, obviously, wore cowboy hats.

Following the athletes were the donor families. The front of the group entered holding a quilt, stitched to help honor the heroes that donated their organs to save a life or many lives. Each family received a square to highlight their loved one's picture or a favorite possession.

"Coming from a transplant recipient's perspective, the Transplant Games are a time to honor the donor," said Hasenkopf-Miller. "I don't even think they put in there that that's one of the main objectives to the Games, but it is for us.

"The other side of it is to create awareness."

Every day nearly 20 people die while waiting for a transplant. Another 10,000-14,000 people that die each year met the criteria to be a donor, but less than half actually became donors.

"The public needs to know that transplantation works and to consider being a donor," said Hasenkopf-Miller. "I think other transplant recipients need to know that this is a fantastic way to show the public and the world that transplantation works."

"We need more donors," she added. "No matter what you have on your donor card, your relatives have the final say. Your family needs to know of your wishes."

Those that are transplant recipients are encouraged to attend the Games, which take place every two years. All costs to attend the event are taken care of by the team. Team Pittsburgh sold bears from The Charity Bear Company, owned and operated by Hasenkopf-Miller and her mother Kathy Hasenkopf, also of Saegertown.

The company designed a bear named "Sporty", a white beanie bear with the hunter green ribbon for organ donor and transplantation awareness embroidered on the chest. The bear also has a rainbow-colored ribbon and a green baseball cap.

"Sporty", like every bear produced at The Charity Bear Company, is sold with the profits from that bear benefiting its specific cause. "Sporty" was designed to help underwrite the costs for Team Pittsburgh to attend the Transplant Games.

"We designed him specifically for the event," said Hasenkopf-Miller. "Our team sold the bear to raise the money to go. We also had involvement from other people throughout the country. I think four other teams made their own bear, and then more than that, maybe 10 teams, sold these bears, too. We helped raise money for that. We'll be doing another bear for the 2004 Games. We might even do a bunny."

Hasenkopf-Miller's outreach doesn't stop with the bears. While on dialysis, she had decided to pursue a career in medicine and enrolled in Duquesne University's pre-med program. However, two weeks after enrolling, Hasenkopf-Miller received the call that a kidney had been found.

A year after the transplant, she enrolled at and attended Duquesne. Two weeks after the start of school, Hasenkopf-Miller was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She is now cancer-free and eager to help make a difference in the lives of others.

"I thought that the work I was doing before as an accountant wasn't really doing that much good for anyone," Hasenkopf-Miller said. "Most of the stuff that I did for an auditor ended up in a box somewhere. So I thought if I am going to work this hard, I am going to do something that matters. That is why I decided to go to medical school."

And for a good ending to a courageous woman's already extraordinary story, in August, Hasenkopf-Miller will begin medical school at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine cancer-free and recovered from her kidney transplant. 

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