In the News 2006

Marblehead Reporter, September 14, 2006

Penny from Heaven
Bear Co. Founder Among Chamber Honorees

The Marblehead Chamber of Commerce will honor Chamber members and Marblehead residents for their outstanding achievements in business, philanthropy and volunteerism at the 54th annual meeting of the Marblehead Chamber of Commerce.

Penny Wigglesworth, founder of the Penny Bear Company, will receive the Rey Moulton Person of the Year Award. The Penny Bear Company, Inc., based in Marblehead, is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization that provides comfort, love and support to the critically ill and their families. The company offers support to local and national non-profit organizations like Hospice of the North Shore and Project HELP in Naples, Fla., to name a few.

"[The company] began with a single project- sending messages of love, hope, trust and compassion wherever they are needed through one of the most universal ambassadors, the teddy bear," explained Wigglesworth.

In addition, the company provides opportunities for people of all ages to work together with their hands and hearts to create each bear and share messages of love, hope, and healing through charitable outreach projects in local communities and beyond.

"As founder and president of the Penny Bear Company, Penny has become a true champion for those in need," said Marblehead Chamber Director Leslie Gould. "For over 11 years, she has selflessly dedicated her time - her life - for friends, family and complete strangers sick with cancer, leukemia, Parkinson's disease, etc., touching them one by one with the story of Penny Bear, energizing them with hope and love, creating support groups, engaging our youth to think of others and so much more. She rallies for those who can easily be forgotten, and succeeds every day with grace when faced with her own personal challenges. The positive and loving emotion has truly touched thousands of lives. She and her Penny Bears are an example of what can happen when you have an idea and set it in motion."