31 | OutBoise Magazine | NEWS
OutBoisemag.com | Issue 13 | December 2015
A lot of times, with no interaction with anyone except
for hospital staff, people were left in despair. And with no
one to comfort them, these teddy bears were a way for
Dab to give people a little bit of comfort in a time when
their lives were - in most cases - over.
At most hospitals, anyone who died of AIDS, in the
early days, were immediately incinerated, out of fear of
the disease spreading.
Some according to Dab, were not even fortunate
enough to have that. He reported that in some cases,
people were just “tossed in the trash” when they passed.
With this seemingly hopeless epidemic, and so many
people being lost, Dab found a way to offer people hope.
One small gesture quickly grew, into providing these
stuffed teddy bears to several thousand people every
year.
The DAB the AIDS Bear project wasn’t just founded to
provide people with that small token of comfort, though.
It was also founded to help raise awareness about HIV,
and AIDS, and through education and awareness, help
prevent the disease in future generations.
Dab didn’t stop with just HIV awareness, though. Over
the years, he has expanded to include DAB the AntiBullying Bear, and DAB the Cancer Bear. The bears wer