SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- On Wednesday, South Bend International Airport celebrated the conclusion of the 2024 Bears in the Air campaign by dropping off over 2,400 bears at five hospitals around Michiana to kids going through a rough time.

"Today, over 500 bears are going to here in St Joe Hospital. And again, we hope it helps a child through a difficult time in their life, but we also want to make sure that it helps the medical professional staff to be able to do their job better, and easier too," said CEO and Executive Director South Bend International Airport Mike Daigle.

"When we had our kickoff event earlier this month, we had a tremendous amount of people from the community who came out and donated and had great generosity to help us do this program. We can't do it without the help of the community to raise the funds to do this. So when I look at how money we're giving away this year, it's a little bit higher than other years."

In total, over 22,500 bears have been donated since the event started 13 years ago.

"It's so important for the community to come together, as we know that we for all issues within our community, that not just one entity can take care of it. So for having the community come together, providing this great comfort to our pediatric patients, it's so important, and really is heart pouring, especially around this time of the year," said Director of Community Health and Well Being at St Joseph Health System Latoya Green.

"Our pediatric patients are here for a various number of reasons, and these bears offer an opportunity to comfort them. Our nurses do a great job of being able to provide just a little bit of extra comfort to our pediatric patients, and so these bears really represent that. And so, we're so supportive to be able to receive those."