Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
6/15/22 KAAL: Yammy Bear fundraiser to visit Uvalde, TX
(ABC 6 News) – The friends and family of Yammy Bear have been contacted by three of the survivors of the school shooting in Uvalde, TX, asking him for a visit. They are currently planning a trip but need a little bit of help to make it there.
The local figure is known for providing support to the community of Rochester through public appearances and fundraisers.
The group has set up a GoFund Me to help pay for expenses for the 18-hour drive, and with gas prices at record highs, anything contributed could do a lot of help in their venture.
"Yammy Bear and I are grateful that somebody reached out to us, and knew that we are a resource that we can turn to," CarolAnn Jackson, co-founder of Yammy Bear and Family said.
The shooting at Robb Elementary School has shaken the small town of Uvalde. As the town grieves the loss of 19 kids and 2 adults, one woman who has a kid who goes to Robb Elementary School, reached out to Yammy Bear.
She says her son is a survivor of the shooting and would love to see Yammy Bear.
In another message Yammy Bear received, he got asked if he wanted to visit a nursing him in Uvalde.
And for Yammy Bear and Family, this means a lot to them.
"I’m definitely working on praying now on how to be strong and be a light and continue to smile and bring that and not just be another person," Jackson said.
This mission is personal for CarolAnn, she’s a mom and wants to make sure that other moms and families are supported through these challenging times.
"We’re going to go, either way, we’re going to Texas," she said.
And no matter what, Yammy Bear and family will make the trek to Texas if that means they have to use their own paychecks.
"We think the best thing that we can do is to give children something that can help them learn to comfort themselves," Jackson said.
And the stuffed animals will go to the shooting survivors at the vigil site in front of the school, and Yammy Bear will be there to give them one of his hugs.
"Is there anything you’d like to tell the kids of Uvalde?"
"Aw, I want to tell them that we love them and we’re thinking of them and they didn’t do anything wrong," Jackson said.
6/15/22 KTTC: Yammy Bear hoping to make Uvalde trip
ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – In his latest act of community outreach, Yammy Bear is trying to get to Uvalde, Texas, but he needs some help. Three survivors of last month’s shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde reached out to Yammy Bear and Family, asking him to come down and provide support to the victims and their families.
“The moment he told me somebody asked us to come, I was like ‘okay, how do we make this happen?’ And right now, he had posted, just saying that we’re thinking about it, we were talking about it, we were hoping to go,” said CarolAnn Jackson, Yammy Bear’s wife. “And someone said well you should start a GoFundMe, and just see if you can get the support you need.”
Yammy Bear has a GoFundMe set up and is hoping to raise $2,500. Right now, he has raised $250.
Copyright 2022 KTTC. All rights reserved.
7/3/22 Post Bulletin:`Yammy Bear heads to Uvalde on heels of a newly diagnosed illness
ROCHESTER — Rochester’s most famous mascot bear, Yammy Bear, is heading to Uvalde, Texas, to comfort survivors of the recent mass shooting there.
The trip will also provide some comfort for 51-year-old Charles Jackson, who dons the suit as the bear.
Jackson was diagnosed last week with a rare protein disorder. After spending five days in Texas, he’ll return to Rochester to begin chemotherapy treatment for the illness.
The treatment will also force Jackson to isolate. The support and hugs he hands out in Texas will be a source of strength for him as he begins treatment, he said.
“I’m filling that cup,” Jackson said.
On May 24, 2022, a man fatally shot 19 students and two teachers and wounded 17 others at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
Last month, Charles Jackson and his wife, CarolAnn Jackson, began planning the trip to bring Yammy Bear to Uvalde. A huggable mascot bear could provide some joy and relief for a community still reeling from trauma, CarolAnn Jackson said.
“We call Yammy Bear an emotional support bear,” she said.
CarolAnn said it appears much of the attention in the aftermath has been in examining the failure of police there to act quicker and not in helping victims and survivors cope with their trauma.
“We found out there isn’t a lot of resources going there,” CarolAnn said. “It’s really died down.”
She said they decided that Charles, as Yammy Bear, could help.
“He knows how to very easily interact with people in various stages of grief,” she said. “There’s something about a giant teddy bear that lifts spirits.”
Even before Charles’ diagnosis, the couple said they knew the trip would be a challenge.
First there are the costs. So the two are crowdfunding their expenses through Go Fund Me .
They said the support so far has been humbling.
“We’ve had so many small donations,” CarolAnn said. “They have really started to add up.”
There is also the challenge of providing helping hugs while not appearing to be exploiting a tragedy.
“How can we honor their pain, but still respect their need for compassion and joy,” CarolAnn said. “We want to show it’s okay to smile — it’s okay to keep living,”
The two also said they know it will be a difficult trip emotionally.
“This is going to be pretty emotionally trying for us,” CarolAnn said. “It’s going to be a test in remaining that light and support and being a joy and uplift.”
The two acknowledge the diagnosis creates some risk holding events during hot summer days in Texas.
Most events will be held in the evening or indoors. Yammy will give out teddy bears to children who attend. They also plan to visit a retirement home. The elderly in the community have also been affected by the events in May, she added.
“If they don’t have grandchildren in the school, they have friends’ children, neighbors’ children, children who work in the school,” CarolAnn said.
On Monday, they will attend July 4th events. The next day, Yammy will hand out hugs and teddy bears at the Church’s Chicken restaurant. On July 6, Yammy will visit an Uvalde retirement home.
Yammy will return to Minnesota July 8.
Chemotherapy will begin July 12. Charles said he expects to be ready.
All the hugs I’ve ever got, that will fortify me,” he said.
7/4/22 KAAL:Jackson family packs stuffed animals for Uvalde trip
7/4/22 Yammy Bear is headed to Uvalde… and ABC 6 News is going with him
(ABC 6 News) – Charles Jackson, a.k.a. Yammy Bear, set off for a trip to Uvalde, Texas this morning.
RELATED: Yammy Bear fundraiser to visit Uvalde, TX | KAALTV.com
So did ABC 6 News reporters Emily Pofahl and Rachel Mills, who will post photos, updates, and broadcast the Yammy Bear family’s travels over the next few days — from Rochester to Uvalde’s community centers.
The shooting at Robb Elementary School shook the small town of Uvalde. As the town grieved the loss of 19 kids and 2 adults, one woman who has a kid who goes to Robb Elementary School, reached out to Yammy Bear.
She said her son is a survivor of the shooting and would love to see Yammy Bear.
In another message Yammy Bear received, he got asked if he wanted to visit a nursing him in Uvalde.
The family agreed to make the trip over the week of July 4.
Stuffed animals will go to the shooting survivors at the vigil site in front of the school, and Yammy Bear will be there to give them one of his hugs.
Keep an eye on ABC 6 News’ Facebook and Twitter for updates today, and see Yammy Bear in action in Uvalde beginning Tuesday evening on Channel 6.
7/4/22 KTTC: Yammy Bear arrives in Uvalde, Texas to bring comfort to community.
ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – The Yammy Bear team has safely arrived in Uvalde, Texas to bring comfort and smiles, as the community continues to grieve the deadly school shooting that happened there in May.
Yammy Bear is no stranger to Rochester area community events. The man behind the suit and his family are passionate volunteers who aim to bring people joy.
The team sent KTTC some images of their arrival in Uvalde Monday.
They had been planning this effort for several weeks and were relieved to make it a reality.
They shared that Yammy Bear will attend a Fourth of July event Monday evening, although the Uvalde community is not setting off fireworks out of respect for the victims and their families.
Yammy Bear has multiple visits planned, including with the local mortician and some Robb Elementary School students.
He will visit the school’s memorial site and the victims’ gravesites.
Tuesday, Yammy Bear will visit a Church’s Chicken and offer hugs, high fives, and stuffed animals to those who want them.
Copyright 2022 KTTC. All rights reserved.
7/5/22 ABC 6 News Exclusive: Yammy Bear meets Uvalde families
(ABC 6 News) – As part of an ABC 6 News exclusive, we are following along with Yammy Bear, a fan-favorite mascot who is working to lift the spirits of those affected by the tragic shooting in Uvalde, TX.
Yammy Bear, also known as Charles Jackson, and his wife CaroAnn have always felt called to give back to the community.
"I just thought it was fun at first. I didn’t have a vision of it being so helpful."
RELATED: Yammy Bear is headed to Uvalde… and ABC 6 News is going with him
That mission brought them around 13 hundred miles away to Uvalde, Texas.
Corina Camacho, a mother whose son was injured in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary reached out to Yammy Bear on Facebook.
Saying, "I read your status about if you are going to visit the kids in Uvalde. The kids would love to see you."
"It was pretty much ordained. When she reached out it was kind of that final confirmation that we’re going to Uvalde."
And word travels fast.
"Uvalde is a small little town that we have here and everybody knows everybody here."
Isabel Silguero lost her nieces Jailah Silguero and Nevaeh Bravo to the tragedy. She says she first heard about the shooting on social media.
"To me, when I saw that, I’m like – oh it’s almost the end of the school year. People are prank-calling and making jokes. It’ll pass. It’ll pass right now. And seriously, this didn’t pass."
After hearing about Yammy Bear’s visit, she set up an event at the local Fast-food chain Church’s Chicken, where she manages, for Uvalde children to laugh and have some fun.
CarolAnn and Charles were ready to provide.
"It’s okay to grieve, but it’s also okay to be thankful to be alive. It’s okay to feel those things."
"Make them, you know, look at positive things and not just the ugly."
"It’s kind of relieving to see the joy. It’s relieving to see the hugs."
"It’s for the kids. It’s for them to enjoy and get out and try to get stuff out of their system. And it just shows that there are good people out there."
ABC 6 News reporters Emily Pofahl and Rachel MIlls are following Yammy Bear in Uvalde, Texas and will have stories all week on ABC 6 News.
7/5/22 ABC 6 News Exclusive: Yammy Bear attends community healing event in Uvalde
(ABC 6 News) – The community in Uvalde, Texas was still grieving Tuesday, six weeks after the deadly school shooting at Robb Elementary.
A massive memorial now lays on the ground outside the school. People from across the country were visiting, leaving flowers and saying prayers.
Meanwhile, the victims’ families were at a crossroads between getting answers but also moving forward.
To help the community heal, Rochester’s Yammy Bear gave out love, support and stuffed animals to kids Tuesday afternoon.
Charles Jackson and his wife Carolann said they have always felt called to give back to the community.
“I just thought it was fun at first. I didn’t have a vision of it being so helpful,” Carolann said.
That mission brought them 1,300 miles away to Uvalde after a mother and her son reached out on Facebook.
“It was pretty much ordained. When she reached out it was kind of that final confirmation that we’re going to Uvalde,” Carolann said.
Isabel Silguero lost her nieces Jailah Silguero and Nevaeh Bravo to the tragedy. She said she first heard about the shooting on social media.
“When I saw that, I’m like ‘it’s almost the end of the school year. People are prank calling and making jokes. It’ll pass. It’ll pass right now.’ And seriously, this didn’t pass,” Silguero said.
After hearing about Yammy Bear’s visit, she set up an event at the local Church’s Chicken she manages for the community to heal together.
“Make them, you know, look at positive things and not just the ugly,” Silguero said.
But healing doesn’t come easy. Not for a community with so many unanswered questions.
“The police, they have protection on them to try and protect somewhat of what they were going into. These children had nothing,” Silguero said.
At the community event Tuesday, conversation quickly turned to questions about police response.
“He got in without a key, so what was the hold up with these cops?” Silguero said. “And why make these families more angry? Why not just show your face and apologize?”
Despite authorities’ vague reports about what happened that day, Silguero said her message is clear, “Making a change happen is a way to move forward. That’s it."
And, the country is trying to move forward with them. Between nationwide cries for gun reform and more individual, personal gifts, Uvalde families are feeling the support.
7/6/22 ABC 6 News Exclusive: Helping Uvalde heal
(ABC 6 News) – After a school shooting in May, Yammy Bear, otherwise known as Charles Jackson, was asked by those in Uvalde, TX to make the nearly 1,300 hundred-mile trip to help the community heal.
ABC 6 News sent a crew to document their journey. Tuesday, he met with some of the youngest survivors and their families bringing smiles, dancing, and teddy bears.
Wednesday, ABC 6 News reporter Emily Pofahl spoke with another group impacted by the shooting and has their story.
7/6/22 ABC 6 News Exclusive: Yammy Bear helping Uvalde heal
(ABC 6 News) – Yammy Bear and Family visited Amistad Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Uvalde, Texas Wednesday to dance with residents and hand out stuffed bears.
For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, residents were laughing and dancing together.
Because the residents can’t leave, they said they feel isolated from the rest of the community in their grief following the shooting at Robb Elementary.
Residents at Amistad said they immediately thought of their own families outside the nursing home when they heard about the shooting in May.
“It seems like when there’s one shooting, there’s more than one, and so I immediately got scared. I got worried because I thought I could lose my family,” Carolyn Ellison, one of the residents, said.
“I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Belinda Vasquez, Amistad’s activities director, said.
Vasquez also works at the funeral home used by many of the victims’ families.
She said even though she has seen indescribable grief, her goal is to help residents at the nursing home move forward and heal.
“It’s my calling, and it’s my responsibility to be here,” Vasquez said.
But it’s not just the residents who need healing.
Cristina Arizmendi is the administrator at Amistad. Her cousin is Eva Mirales, the fourth grade teacher killed in the shooting. Arizmendi also spoke of a calling.
“I have a purpose in life, I feel like. And being here, with them, even helping them mourn and get through it, helps me get through things,” she said.
But she wants people to know, it’s going to take a while, and Uvalde will need long-term support.
“It’s going to be a long time. It’s going to take a very long time for us to be able to get through this as a community,” Arizmendi said.
She also said looking for the lighthearted people like Yammy Bear will help with that journey.
“I could feel the energy even to my office. I was over there dancing, and I haven’t, you know, I probably haven’t danced since the tragedy, so that was huge,” Arizmendi said.
Vasquez and Arizmendi hope this event with Yammy Bear can lead to more events, more visitors and more fun in the future.
“They needed that uplifting. They needed someone to come and tell them that it’s gonna be okay,” Vasquez said.
And Yammy Bear was happy to do it.
7/7/22 Yammy Bear reflects on trip to Uvalde
(ABC 6 News) – A symbol of positivity in Rochester was called to help the children of Uvalde Texas heal. Yammy Bear was asked by those in Uvalde to make the nearly 1,300 mile trip to the site where a mass shooting took place a Robb Elementary School.
He went down there to help Uvalde families heal, but he also experienced some healing himself. The man behind Yammy Bear, Charles Jackson, was diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening disease right before his Uvalde trip. Jackson said he had to convince his doctors to postpone his chemotherapy treatment so that he could go help Uvalde first.
The disease is called AL Amyloidosis, and it affects the heart, kidneys, liver and nerves.
"Believe it or not, but, I talk to the bear all the time, to keep him encouraged, to keep him focused on the mission. And he also encourages me," Jackson said of Yammy Bear. "It’s Yammy Bear who’s the one that’s bringing the people in. Not me. He’s very sociable, very loving, caring, humble."
But it was Charles who decided that Yammy Bear needed to bring that loving and caring energy to Uvalde.
"To be a part of that grief, and to be a part of the healing process through dancing, through laughter, through taking pictures."
After a horrific six weeks, the grieving families and community said they will remember how Yammy Bear made them feel.
"It’s for the kids. It’s for them to enjoy, and get out and try to, you know, get stuff out of their system. It just shows that there is good people out there," said Isabel Silguero, who lost two of her nieces, Nevaeh Bravo and Jailah Silguero, in the shooting.
"I could feel the energy — even to my office. I was over there dancing and I haven’t danced probably since the tragedy. So that was huge," said Cristina Arizmendi, whose cousin, Eva Mireles was one of the teachers killed.
Charles is encouraging people to step up and volunteer their time in their neighborhood, but also in neighborhoods across the country.
"If you have a desire of reaching out to kids and the elderly and people like us — reach out. Not just in your community but in other communities. That’s what’s going to make it valuable. People are going to cling on to you because of that love that you have for them," Jackson said.
That love is what is driving this bear to give back. But this bear could use some love too.
"His doctor told us that without treatment he has a 10-13 month life-expectancy, but with treatment he can expect to live decades," said CarolAnn Jackson, Charles’s wife.
Diagnosed with a rare disease, Charles put aside his own health to heal others. Upon his return to Rochester is chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. Because those treatments weaken his immune system, he’ll be forced to isolate — something that goes against the very nature of Yammy Bear.
"Trying to figure out how we’re going to do what we do is already an issue. But now, how are we going to provide for our six children that are still at home?" CarolAnn said.
But despite everything, Charles is hopeful. He said while he spent his week in Uvalde giving back, the people of Uvalde gave him something in return.
"There’s so many people that we got in contact with that I can use to help me heal. And this is also a healing process just to be here also," Jackson said of his time in Uvalde.
His message: you don’t need a special persona or a bear suit to help make change.
"You don’t have to have a mask on, alright? It’s about the heart."
Charles and CarolAnn just ask for the community’s love and support during Charles’s treatment. They will be fundraising for medical costs in the coming weeks.
