This Friday, January 27, the boys varsity basketball game will be about something more than beating Grand Rapids Christian. For the first time, the high school will be partnering with Billy Bear Hug: The William B. Wondergem Foundation for Children to provide “the cure of comfort for children with critical illness” around West Michigan.
In essence, the aim is for all those attending the game to bring a brand new stuffed animal with tags still on or to buy a bear at a table when they arrive. At half time, everyone will throw their bears onto the court, where the toys will be collected to be either distributed to one of Billy Bear’s eight partners or sold at future events.
Senior Claira Warner is on the Youth Advisory Board for Billy Bear. She was inspired to join the organization after first-hand experience on the receiving end of “the cure of comfort.” In the eighth grade, Warner spent several months at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in downtown Grand Rapids.
“I received a bear during a four month stay in the hospital. I was 13, which I know is on the older side, but it was still really a comfort to have for myself during that time,” Warner said. “I would bring my bear to surgeries or to different events. Just to have it there felt like a really good companion to have. It was just nice to know that there’s people that care to give you that bear.”
As president of the National Honor Society, Warner decidedly organized the charity game with her fellow National Honor Society officers: seniors MacKenzie Shoen, Callan Loughin and Wyatt Frahm and junior representative Sasha Kuhnie.
“Claira has been really taking the head point on [organizing the Northview game],” East Grand Rapids senior and president of the Billy Bear Hug Youth Advisory Board KK Milanowski said. “What we’ve helped her with is getting her bears to sell on that night, just so that there’s a table there that people, when they go to the game, can buy some of our bears to toss onto the [court] and for us to use again to give to different places.”
According to Milanowski, the foundation typically hosts two to three bear tosses a year. The main two are through the Grand Rapids Griffins minor league hockey team and East Grand Rapids (EGR) High School versus Catholic Central hockey game.
In 2011, Charlie Wondergem, who attended East Grand Rapids High School, created the foundation in honor of his older brother, Billy Wondergem, who went to Catholic Central. Billy Wondergem dedicated his life to pediatric oncology, even discovering a rare gene to help cure kidney cancer shortly before his acceptance into medical school, but he unexpectedly passed away in October of 2010.
Milanowski’s school’s bear toss, the EGR versus Catholic Central hockey game, is therefore a major fundraiser hitting close to home for the East Grand Rapids community.
“When the first goal was scored, it really didn’t matter what team it was. Nobody really cared,” Milanowski said. “Just everybody was excited, because both teams got to throw their bears. Everyone from the stands was cheering, and both teams went around the ice and were collecting the bears. I think that shows a true testament of how there’s bigger things besides a rivalry in a game, like these boys were able to come together for a really cool thing.”
Warner wishes to replicate this scene on the Wildcat court during Friday’s game.
“I’m just hoping that lots of Northview people will participate. I think it’s a good cause,” Warner said. “I’ve personally seen the impacts of it, and I love working with the committee and everything for Billy Bear.”
Milanowski has also seen the overwhelmingly positive effects the bears have on sick kids. Her and others on the Youth Advisory Board venture to the hospitals and other partners to donate bears and spend time with children.
One experience with a three-year-old girl at Helen DeVos sticks with Milanowski.
“We got an email a few weeks later that she had taken that bear with her all through the hospital, and then she had a surgery, and she took that bear with her up until the operating room, which I thought was super cool just because I was able to give that bear to her,” Milanowski said. “In the grand scheme of things, it seems like it wouldn’t make a big difference, but I think when you have those individual moments, it’s really cool to see how the smallest things can make a really big impact.”
Entry to the game on Friday will be free with a stuffed animal or otherwise five dollars. There will also be opportunities to donate extra money to the foundation. The theme for the student section is pajama out.
To donate, volunteer and learn more about the Billy Bear Hug Foundation, visit their website at billybearhug.org or Instagram at @billybearhug.
