WPS-sponsored Teddy Bear Toss at Gamblers game collects more than 7,600 stuffed animals


GREEN BAY, Wis.—Feb. 26, 2018—Volunteers collected thousands of stuffed toys during the Green Bay Gamblers game against the Madison Capitols at the 19th Annual Teddy Bear Toss, sponsored by WPS Health Insurance, on Saturday, Feb. 24.

When the Gamblers scored their first goal, fans threw new teddy bears they brought to the game on the ice—a total of 7,631 stuffed animals, nearly one for every person in attendance.

Area high school students volunteered to collect and sort the bears, which will be given away to local charities across northeast Wisconsin.

On Monday, WPS' Roger Ebert joined Gamblers hockey stars to give some of those bears to pediatric patients at Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay.

The Teddy Bear Toss started in 2000, and since then, fans have donated thousands of teddy bears to area children in hospitals and shelters, and for other emergency situations.