Miss Canada International Nicole Kotrosky watched the tsunami drama unfold a world away and knew she had to help. The Vernon native watched as aid poured in to the tsunami-ravaged areas of Asia to provide food and medical relief, but she wondered about the emotional needs of the children affected by the disaster. According to the U.N. News Centre that catastrophic event claimed more than 165,000 lives, injured half a million people, left up to 5 million more in need of basic services and caused incalculable damage in a dozen countries.

Nicole Kotrovsky began working with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency ADRA Canada and came up with the idea of collecting teddy bears that will be sent to the children. "The kids have nothing, and this is a little something they can pack around with them," said Kotrosky. Now ADRA Canada officially partners with Miss Canada International (MCI) and Miss Teen Canada International (MTCI) Organization, headquartered in Barrie (Ontario). ADRA will take care of shipping the stuffies overseas.

Nicole Kotrosky attended the Pleasant Valley Academy in Vernon, an Adventist school, and already had ties to this international aid organization. As part of her platform for being Miss Canada International, Kotrosky eagerly embarked on a partnership with the group.

This years title holders, Nicole Kostrosky "Miss Canada International" and Amanda Klyn "Miss Teen Canada International" will be travelling throughout Canada collecting teddy bears from Canadian children for the children of Asia who have been left behind after the disaster.

She helped kick off the teddy bear drive at the Okanagan Adventist Academy in Rutland on January 24. There she urged the students to think about what it would be like to lose everything - parents, siblings, their home - and what it would mean to them to know people care. "I will be personally going to Sri Lanka to hand out the teddy bears you so generously have given," she told students at the kick off event. Bears will also be donated to children in other areas affected by the disaster.

Calling them "gifts of love," Kotrosky thanked the students for the hundreds of bears they had already collected.

"We chose teddy bears because there is a huge emotional void right now" she said, adding what small child doesn’t like hugging a stuffed animal. "At the end of the day, they’re still children, and children love their teddy bears."

Teacher Bill McRorie said the student body has embraced the project. Many have purchased new stuffies, but a few have passed on personal ones that hold sentimental values. "It’s to give them a little sense of enjoyment – a sense of hope, " said McRorie of the tsunami children. [Editors: Christian B. Schaeffler and Darren Handschuh for APD]