Meet Wilson. Like many new students, he is actively involved in campus life. He likes to attend a wide variety of campus events and even has a Facebook account. However, unlike most students, Wilson is a teddy bear.
Wilson is helping the University of Memphis chapter of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International, or HSMAI, raise awareness for the Memphis Child Advocacy Center, whose mission is the help children who are the victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
Wilson's mission is simple - recruit as many "friends" as he can during his journey to the Memphis Child Advocacy Center. His friends are other stuffed animals that people donate to HSMAI. Their goal is to find 50 friends for Wilson.
"We wanted people to relate to this campaign on a more personal level," said Inna Soifer, who is an instructor at the Kemmons Wilson School of Resort and Hospitality Management and the faculty advisor for the University of Memphis HSMAI chapter. "We thought that if we gave a human face to a teddy bear, and then told people that he is looking for friends, then, hopefully, they would not only respond quicker but would be touched as well."
The Memphis Child Advocacy Center, whose motto is "helping victims become children again," reports that one in 10 children will be sexually abused by the time they turn 18, and their mission is to "serve children who are victims of sexual and severe physical abuse through prevention, education and intervention."
One of the ways that the center helps these children is to collect stuffed animals for the victims of abuse.
"For a lot of kids this is the very first toy in their lives," Soifer said. "It's remarkable that by collecting these bears we can give someone his or her very first friend."
Wilson is named after Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson, who also founded the resort and hospitality management school by the same name. The founding of the school was actually the last project the elder Wilson undertook before his death in 2003. The Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation is still a major financial contributor to its namesake school.
The student chapter of HSMAI is an offshoot of the larger Mid-South chapter.
"We (restaurant and hospitality management students) needed a student organization of some kind on campus," Brandy Daly, president of HSMAI, said. "And they are a great organization to network and meet people who are in the hospitality industry."
HSMAI is holding a bake sale Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the campus Holiday Inn to raise awareness for Wilson's journey. Students who stop by will be treated to an assortment of hot chocolate, cookies and pies.
"Because most of our students have a culinary background, they bake excellent pies," Soifer said.
Students who wish to follow Wilson the Bear's journey can follow him using the hashtag #wilsonsjourney, by visiting the HSMAI Facebook page or following their Instagram account, @hsmaiuofmemphis.
To donate a stuffed animal, visit the Kemmons Wilson School in the Holiday Inn at 3700 Central Ave. in Suite 140.
