The Downey Patriot

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Donors deliver hundreds of teddy bears to children fighting cancer

DOWNEY — UCLA Alumni delivered hundreds of teddy bears to children undergoing cancer treatment at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital on Monday.


This is the sixth year that the the UCLA Alumni Los Angeles Southeast Network (“Southeast Bruins”) team up with recent UCLA alumna Alexandra Munoz and her mom, Sylvia Munoz, who is also a UCLA alumna.


Alexandra is a cancer survivor and underwent cancer treatment while a student at UCLA. She credits a teddy bear with comforting her through the cold, lonely nights at the Hospital.


Since being cleared of cancer, Alexandra has collected teddy bears and delivered them to children undergoing cancer treatment.


This year, the Southeast Bruins, with help from the Downey Girl Scouts Troop #01173, collected over 150 teddy bears at their annual Holiday Party. On Monday, Ricardo Perez and Maria Torres of the Southeast Bruins, together with the Beachside Bruins, Bay Cities Bruins, Silicon Beach Bruins, Westside Bruins, Alexandra and her mother, Sylvia, delivered hundreds of teddy bears to the children currently fighting cancer at the Mattel Children's Hospital.


The UCLA Alumni groups and the multiple boxes of teddy bears were welcomed by Alice del Rosario from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the UCLA Mascot Josephine Bruin.


For more information about the event or the group, please contact Immediate Past President Ricardo Perez, Southeast at rperez@alumni.ucla.edu.