[caption id=“” align=“alignleft” width=“183”]Image Lana Griffin clutches her old and new Cuzzie Bears at a USO Hawaii area office. USO photo[/caption]

You can only sew up a bear so many times.

That’s the dilemma one Hawaii-based family had when their daughter’s Cuzzie bear – a staple of Comfort Crew “With You All The Way” deployment kits – was hanging together by its last threads.

The Griffin family received the bear in a kit given to their son, Lucas, while living near USO Yokosuka in Japan. Their daughter, Lana, inherited the bear from her older brother and has toted it around the Pacific ever since.

Lana’s mother, Shawna, had been searching for a replacement for the bear, but couldn’t find one for a reasonable cost. The family eventually called USO Hawaii and explained the situation.

The staff at the USO dug out a new Cuzzie and had it waiting when Lana and her family arrived at the center.

“Seeing firsthand how meaningful USO programs are to our military families and the comfort they provide was so touching. It was truly a full-circle moment,” said USO Hawaii Programs Manager Kristin Tierney. “We often don’t get to share these moments with those we touch, and hearing the impact that Cuzzie Bear has had on this family just solidifies why we do what we do.”

You can read more about the significance of the Cuzzie bear here.

In other news around the USO:

  • USO Fort Drum was named the Greater Watertown-North County Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year in the “nonprofit, 50 or fewer employees” category.

–Story by USO Story Development