Teen Takes Police Officer's Uniform From Police Department Cutting It Up & Making Headlines With Her Plan

Jan 31, 2019 by apost team

Eleanor Roosevelt once said that looking fear in the face helps you gain courage, confidence, and strength. Dale Carnegie had similar advice for conquering fear, saying to go out and get busy versus just sitting around thinking about it.

That’s just what one police officer’s daughter did when it came to a fear of losing her dad to the dangers of his job. She looked her fear in the eyes and decided to get busy using her creativity as an outlet.

Police officers pledge to uphold the law, even at loss of limb or life. For them, it’s just part of a job they’re proud of and love. For their families, however, such potential loss isn’t always so easily an accepted risk.

Kids particularly have a hard time with it and experience a seesaw of emotions not easily put into words. After all, they didn’t get to pick what profession their parent would have or have a say in them having a risky job. If you have someone in your family in law enforcement, then you’re likely very familiar with the constant fear of getting a knock on the door that your loved one was injured or killed in the line of duty.

That’s 16-year-old Megan O’Grady’s biggest fear. Instead of sitting around thinking about it, she decided to create and outlet for her fear, those in similar situations, and even those who’ve already lived through the worst case scenario of loss.

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From Shirt To Bear. She began to slice and dice police shirts. You may be thinking this sounds more like some hostile teenage rebellion at work, but it’s actually quite an uplifting gesture. You see, Megan is using her creative flair and sewing skills to turn actual police shirts into teddy bears.

The 2016 deaths of five Dallas police officers inspired Megan to take one of the most personal aspects of a policeman’s job, their uniform shirt, and turn it into a source of memorabilia and comfort for the survivors. Megan stitches each bear by hand before she hand delivers it to the families.

 The Blue Line Bears have a personalized badge on the chest with the officer’s name and badge number on it, arm patches representing the officer’s department and area of service, and an EOW date stitched on the bear’s foot.

Megan’s Blue Line Bears has gone viral with an outpouring of donations and demand for a bear. The Facebook page has almost 28,000 likes so far, and Megan made this video posted at the start of the year as a challenge for 100,000 likes.

 Megan has created almost 500 bears for families in 34 different states thus far. Blue Line Bears is a nonprofit, meaning that Megan doesn’t charge a dime for the bears themselves nor delivering them in person.

She travels from her Florida hometown to wherever the bears need to go based on the support of donations.

In recent interviews, Megan explains how the community of police families are so interconnected and watch out for each other in the toughest circumstances. Megan is certainly doing her part in that community, too.

These bears must be a tremendous source of love, comfort, and remembrance for the those living with the fear or aftermath of a fallen officer.

Be sure to pass this story along if it moved you or you know any law enforcement families. ​Let us know what you think about Megan’s uniform to bear project, and feel free to pass this along to your loved ones, too!