More than 20 children from The Children’s Place were greeted and joined by members of the Chiefs Women’s Organization (CWO) at Build-A-Bear Workshop in the Oak Park Mall. The CWO is an organization comprised of wives, fiancées, and significant others of Chiefs players, coaches and football support staff members. The mission of the organization is to build goodwill in the Kansas City community through active volunteer participation.

The CWO assisted the kids in creating a new friend. The friend, of course, is a brand new teddy bear, rabbit, or puppy that the kids get to select themselves. After picking out the new friend that they wanted to bring to life, they were able to choose between a Chiefs football uniform or a Chiefs cheerleading outfit for their newly-created friends. One of the youngsters was such a football buff that he ended up naming his bear “Blitz”.

Not only did the kids get a new friend that they get to keep and take home, but they made some new friends with members of the CWO. Each child was assigned one or two CWO members. Many of the kids opened up right away and embraced their new acquaintances like old friends. For example, Erin Brown was giving her child a piggy-back ride around the store and mall. You couldn’t help but to notice the ear-to-ear smiles on the kids’ faces.

The Children’s Place is committed to meeting the developmental and mental health needs of the very youngest survivors of abuse, neglect and other trauma. It is a recognized leader in the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect. These children had never been to Build-A-Bear, so this was a new and exciting adventure for these less fortunate kids.

Chrissy Haley, wife of head coach Todd Haley, was one of the many CWO members on hand. “It’s great for the community to take part in an event like this,” she enthusiastically commented. “This was a great opportunity for the Chiefs wives to get together and get to know each other better. More importantly, it was great for these kids. I think we had just as much fun as they did.”

The event concluded with lunch at Panera Bread. All the children wanted to finish eating so that they could continue to play with their new friends. Many of the CWO members had a hard time saying goodbye as the children went back on their vans from The Children’s Place. The CWO has many more special events such as this one planned for the remainder of the year.

-CHIEFS COMMUNITY CARING, JOIN OUR TEAM-