When is a teddy bear more than just a teddy bear?

When it is given to a victim of child abuse, it can represent a fuzzy form of love, care and comfort during a child’s greatest time of need.

“I think that teddy bear will make them happy because when they get that teddy bear they might think of it as a friend,” said Joey, a ninth-grade student at Southside School in Niles. “And they will know that the person that gave it to them — they cared. They know they have someone they can trust.”

On Monday, Southside School began raising money in order to purchase teddy bears for victims of child abuse and domestic violence.

It started in teacher Sally Irons’ class after her ninth and 10th grade students read the book “A Child Called ‘It’,” which chronicles the story of a child who suffered severe physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his mother.

Ninth-grader Nathan said the book teaches several important lessons about abuse.

“What I learned from the book is that child abuse is never okay and that it is never the victim’s fault that they got abused,” he said.

Classmate Tyrese pointed out that the main character in book persevered, despite the hardships he went through.

“He didn’t lose hope inside and that’s the biggest thing,” he said.

After seeing the impact the book had on the students, an outreach worker in Irons’ class decided to have the school raise money for victims of abuse.

Robin Fergison led a similar fundraiser several years ago that brought in enough money to fill an entire small bus with teddy bears.

“I always like to do something for abused kids or women whenever we read this book,” Fergison said. “We thought a teddy bear drive this time would give kids that were taken from their home for whatever reason something to hold on to.”

Joey said he believes what they are doing is important because he has known people who have been abused and knows what damage it can cause.

His mother gave him a Winnie the Pooh bear when he was 2.

“I held on to that bear because I knew it could keep me safe and happy from when I was 2 to 10 years old,” he said.

Southside classes are competing to raise the most money for the project in a unique way. Classes earn points when pennies and paper bills are dropped into their respective jars, but lose points if silver coins are collected. The class with the most points at the end of the month wins a pizza lunch.

Irons said the fundraiser is just one of the many ways Southside promotes community service and anti-bullying.

“This plays right into those initiatives,” Irons said. “It is really important that students learn that no matter what kind of problems you have there is always someone else that has a worse problem. No matter how hard it is to look past your own situation, we still have to look at how we can help others.”

Kelly Laesch, of the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department, will assist the school in locating agencies to which they can distribute the bears.

The last names of students in the story were omitted at the request of school officials.