By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— When tragedy strikes a family, sometimes the smallest token can be comforting for a child. Because of this, Ron and Elizabeth Howard donated about 50 teddy bears to the Pelham fire and police departments.

“What we wanted to do is when the fire or police are handling a situation that involves some kind of trauma to a youngster, like their house burns, that they can reach in and have one of these,” Ron Howard said.

The teddy bears are brand new and each is sealed in a Ziploc bag to protect it from getting dirty. Howard said he wanted it to be easy for the first responders to unzip the bears to gift to a child.

Although he said this donation was on behalf of the University of Alabama’s presence in Shelby County, including Alabama Ice Hockey and the Shelby County University of Alabama Alumni Chapter, giving back to the community is what the Howards do.

“I don’t have any money, but man if you are smart and you have a little bit of money (you can help),” he said.

Howard described himself as a professional volunteer. In 2013, the Alabama Senior Citizen Hall of Fame name him Humanitarian of the Year for his work.

“This is what I do,” he said.

Howard and his wife serve on the visitor’s board of the University of Alabama and are active in many different organizations.

One organization the couple volunteers with is Kiva, nonprofit organization with that lends individuals around the world small sums of money to help create opportunity.

Howard also runs one of the 95 volunteer stations through the Shelby County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.

“We always look for things to do,” Howard said.