The Building Bridges bears were graciously accepted by the Russian Ambassador to the United States, Yuri V. Ushakov, who delivered brief remarks thanking VOICES for our outreach effort. Each bear has a card bearing a brief message in Russian and English expressing support for these victims of terrorism. Some bears, for example, have the message, “Every time you hug this bear, know that someone cares for you” and the translation. 

From Washington the bears will be transported to the town of Beslan, in the North Ossetia region of Russia, and distributed to families of the victims in time for the first anniversary of the attacks in September. On September 1, 2004. Beslan School #1 was seized by separatist militants who held teachers and students hostage for three days. On September 3, Russian Special Forces reclaimed the school, but 344 victims, including 172 children, died in the attack. In his remarks at the event, Ambassador Ushakov called the Beslan attack “ Russia’s 9/11,” because of its impact on their nation. At the event, VOICES members signed the Beslan Declaration Against Terrorism to show our solidarity with the victims and commitment to work together to combat terrorism. The event was mentioned in an article last week by the Russian ITAR TASS news agency.

VOICES will continue our Send-A-Bear Program to reach out to other communities scarred by terrorism. We hope that VOICES can make a small difference in the lives of people we may not know by name, but know intimately just the same. In remarks made by Mary Fetchet, she stated, "We hope that this small gesture will be the beginning of a larger collaboration between our countries to make our world safer for all our families." Soon, we will expand the Send-A-Bear program to foster relationships with the victims and their families in Madrid and London. Plese send an email to info@voicesofsept11.org or call our office if you are interested in donating time, money, or bears for Send-A-Bear's continuing outreach. 

VOICES would like to thank Senator Lieberman and his dedicated staff for making the Russian Embassy event possible and everyone at the Embassy for being such gracious hosts and arranging to deliver the bears to Beslan families. Special thanks again to our 9/11 family volunteers and the VOICES staff for their hard work on the Send-A-Bear program.