WS Chronicle

An eight-year-old Winston-Salem girl has been named a semifinalist in the 2013 Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable Heroes competition.

Angelysé Coleman is one of 80 young social entrepreneurs being recognized for helping to make their community and the world a better place.
Angelysé helped her local food bank by gathering donations from her church, sorting the food and helping with the delivery.

She also volunteered in her school’s computer lab, helping with homework and mentoring her peers. Angelysé has collected more than 5,000 food items and has raised more than $2,000 for various causes.

Build-A-Bear Workshop launched the Huggable Heroes program in 2004 as a way to recognize young people for their outstanding community service efforts. Huggable Heroes are young leaders, ages eight to 18, who demonstrate strong levels of kindness, compassion and leadership to make a difference in their communities or around the world.

Former Huggable Heroes have been honored for their work with such causes as:
• Sending care packages to soldiers overseas
• Raising funds and awareness for medical conditions and research
• Collecting items for victims of natural disasters
• Helping animals and serving the elderly
Nominations for this year’s Huggable Heroes program were accepted from Jan. 18 through Feb. 28. More than 1,000 applications were received. The nominations have now been narrowed down to a field of 80 semifinalists. In May, 30 finalists will be announced and the 10 Huggable Heroes will be named this summer.

For additional information, visit www.buildabear.com/huggableheroes