A Message to the RARE Bear Army

Dear RARE Bear Army,

A heartfelt thank you to the ~6000 RARE Bear Army Members representing over 20 countries who support kids around the world through the RARE Bear program. Over 12,000 RARE Bears have been gifted to children in 76 countries since our inception 10 years ago! We continue to grow in membership and know that we need to make some changes to continue to support the growth of the RARE Bear Army and scaling of our impact on the lives of children!

We have some great news regarding a new process that will overcome the challenges we have been facing with our incredible growth. Our goal with these changes is to empower the RARE Bear Army members with the materials to move more quickly and make a larger impact on the lives of children! By decentralizing the process, we aim to give every single RARE Bear Army member the ability to make RARE Bears at their own pace and gift the bears to kids in need that are in their own local communities. We believe by decentralizing and enabling members to help locally, collectively, as an army we can scale the impact on the lives of children in need worldwide.

What unites RARE Bear Army members is your unwavering support of children and families and knowing kids are our future. Through the simple gifting of RARE Bears, we can bring comfort and joy to kids in need along with support to families letting them know they are not alone.

By being part of our international RARE Bear Army as an individual, united we are able change the lives of kids across the globe. As said, little drops of water make the mighty ocean, and each of you being part of the RARE Bear Army and supporting your local community of children, collectively, make a mighty force for kids around the globe!

RARE Bear Army Members

Keep sight of what really matters: Kids are our future, and we need to work locally across our international network to bring global support to kids!
Aspire for excellence in all we do: We take pride in our work and ensure the quality of RARE Bears by adhering to The RARE Bear Army RARE Bear making guidelines!
Know that we are stronger together: We collaborate and work together so that collectively we help each other to support more kids around the world.
Care about our fellow RARE Bear Army members: We care deeply about each other and all who support our shared mission. We listen with respect. We support one another.
We are Volunteers: We donate our time and RARE Bears to kids and do not profit from the program.
We are Inclusive: All are welcome to join the RARE Bear Army! We come from various places with different experiences. We may have different voices, but we all sing the same song.

What is new?

The RARE Bear Army is dedicated to supporting children and families worldwide, with over 6000 members in over 20 countries. As the Army grows, so does its impact. To expand the support of kids through the RARE Bear program and accommodate the ever-growing Army, we are making changes to the processes, so everyone can more easily support children in need. The RARE Bear Army through decentralization is becoming its own independent grassroots effort. RARE Bear Army members working together or solo, will complete RARE Bears and gift them to their local organizations that support kids facing challenges which expands our impact beyond rare disease to hunger, homelessness, and trauma as examples. This opens the ability to support organizations that you are passionate about such as the local police and fire departments, children’s hospitals, or other organizations helping children in your area. The RARE Bears will have the same quality requirements and use the same Simplicity pattern. The exciting new process eliminates tag/feet kit ordering and relies only on a NEW special fabric for the RARE Bear feet that will be available for everyone to order as needed!

Why are we making this change?

Several changes and one big realization have driven the creation of a new process. The big realization is that there are so many RARE Bear Army members, and we have not been able to keep up with the kit demand causing slowing of the process and sending RARE Bears to kids! The second is that we believe that the best way forward is for all of us to work locally, keeping in mind that collectively we can cover the globe with the existing locations of the RARE Bear Army members. In the current process, RARE Bear makers around the world send us sewn bear skins that we would check in, stuff, sew up and then deliver the completed RARE Bears to different children/organizations around the world. For our new process, RARE Bears will be made and gifted in the same location, which eliminates a lot of steps, costs and most importantly, we will all have the ability to gift more RARE Bears to kids in need.

How will this work?

Starting today, you can follow the outline below while we continue to provide more information on the new process to you over time:

The same Simplicity pattern will be used and can be ordered here: https://simplicity.com/simplicity/c5461
Updated instructions will be shared that ensure safety and quality (if you are making RARE Bears now, please continue to follow the instructions on the RARE Science website https://www.rarescience.org/getting-started/)
Tag and feet fabric kit is no longer needed!
RARE Bear fabric for the feet can be ordered here from Spoonflower: https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric/19765839

RARE Bear skins are stuffed and finished by the Local RARE Bear Maker ensuring overall quality and completion
Please note that if you want to continue to make only the RARE Bear skins, the San Diego RARE Bear Army unit is committed to stuffing, sewing up and gifting the RARE Bears locally to children’s charities. Please send your RARE Bear skins (unstuffed RARE Bear shells) to:
Christina Waters
874 Saxony Rd
Encinitas, CA 92024
RARE Bears, going forward will be gifted locally by the RARE Bear Makers. Some example groups that the San Diego RARE Bear Army unit supports are Ronald McDonald Houses, Children’s Hospitals, and other children’s service support organizations that ensure children have food and care…and RARE Bears!
Please continue to update and share your giftings with other army members through the RARE Science Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RAREScience
When using social media do not forget our hashtags: #rarebears #rarebeararmy #rarebear
As a team identifier for all RARE Bear Army members, we have created a RARE Bear Army patch that can include your team location. This will help us to continue to identify each other as a fellow Bear maker! These can be ordered from the Patch Superstore and be sure to include your location when ordering.

Currently the San Diego RARE Bear Army is sporting their new patches on their jackets as seen below:

When will the new process start?

This message marks the exciting beginning of the transition of the RARE Bear Army into a separate grass roots movement to support kids in need around the world.

If you currently have any RARE Bear skins, please add the new fabric (once received) to the feet and combine with your new RARE Bears for gifting.

With the completion and gifting of the last 80 last skins in our hands which will be part of the “Stuff and Sew” event for the National Society of Genetic Counselor Annual Conference in the Fall, the San Diego RARE Bear Army Will have gifted all RARE Bear skins sent to us.

Bear with us!

There are a lot of moving parts, so Bear with us as we make these changes. We are excited about this next chapter and know that many of you are also enthusiastic about our new process, improvements, and our continued commitment to helping more kids! Through this innovative approach we believe that we will serve more children and families while enabling the RARE Bear Army to excel in the unwavering support and commitment to the well-being of children everywhere.

Volunteer to be a RARE Bear Army Captain and help guide RARE Bear Army members in your region!
If you would like to be a regional RARE Bear Army Captain, please also email me at christina.a.waters@gmail.com