After Grant Wood Elementary School Principal Jill Bresnan introduced Sam the Sloth to the Bettendorf, Iowa, school to see if it could help with students' anxiety,  the impact was immediate — students and staff found comfort and calm in Sam’s weighted hugs, and “I knew in a week that we needed a Hugimal in every classroom,” Jill says. 

Hugimals World founder Marina Khidekel spoke with Jill and then PTA President Jen Boedeker, about their goal of putting a Hugimal in each classroom in the school, and the effects they've seen on students.

How did you first hear of Hugimals, and What initially caught your interest when you first learned about us?

Jill (School Principal): I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Champagne, Illinois in 2022, and I was telling them about some of the challenges our students were having with anxiety and feeling grounded. My aunt is a nurse, and she told me she just learned about these Hugimals weighted stuffed animals and thought they might be helpful for our students. She told me to pick one out and she’d get it for the school to try. I chose Sam the Sloth

Can you share your initial thoughts and feelings when you first received your Sam the Sloth?

Jill: Within a week of having Sam, I knew we needed Hugimals in every classroom at the school. I kept Sam on the couch in my office, and both students and teachers would come in to hug him when they were dysregulated or stressed. Students would ask to come in and play with Sam. For the first month, I would snap a picture and send it to Jen anytime a kid was using it.

For myself, holding Sam really felt like holding my kids when they were infants, it had that calming effect and I would even sway with it like a baby. My kids, who are 6 and 8, also loved the Hugimal. My daughter in particular has a million stuffed animals, but Sam became her preferred one. 

So I went to the PTA and told them this Hugimal was already helping, but I knew cost could be a barrier. 

How did the idea go over with the PTA?

Jen (then PTA President): Jill was a new principal, it was her first year at the school, and she was bringing ideas, which I loved. When she brought the Hugimals idea to the PTA, I instantly wanted to do it and said we’d figure out a way. I not only wanted Hugimals for the school, but also for my own kids at home (they are also 6 and 8). 

My daughter, who has had some challenges and has been working with a therapist, really loved Sam. One night, she was having a hard time and needed some alone time in her room. When she came out, she was hugging her Hugimal. She went to it herself for comfort, and I loved that. 

How did you decide to start the program to buy 30 Hugimals Charlie the Puppies?

Jen: Our school is known as the Little Dogs, so as much as we loved Sam the Sloth, it made a lot of sense to get all Charlie the Puppies. We wanted to get one for each classroom, as well as the nurse’s office, library and gymnasium. I opened a Signup Genius page, added some information about Hugimals from your website, and made 30 slots for 30 Hugimals. Within two weeks, all the Hugimals had all been purchased.

This way of fundraising was so different from the usual bake sales because with cookies and pies, family members can’t all be there physically to buy them. But with Hugimals, people could read about the product and the need for it, and easily purchase a puppy for the school from afar. They felt a real connection to Hugimals and what they were buying. 

On the logistical side, a PTO member offered to make name tag collars for each of the puppies — the names were chosen by the person who bought each pup — and we had to match each one to a classroom. When we went to deliver them all to the teachers, my kids came, Jill was there, it was fun. We put the Hugimals on the teacher’s chairs for them to find.

How are the Hugimals used with the kids and have you seen positive effects? 

Jill: We have a Hugimal in each classroom’s calming corner to help kids when they need to regulate and self-soothe. Kids are also able to take one and sit at their desk with it when they need to. We’ve seen a lot of positives from them.

For example, we have one student who was diagnosed with ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) and the Hugimal has been a game-changer for him. He will take it on the swing and swing it — it has helped him stay grounded and be able to stay in the classroom and be a productive member of the class. When we see him start to escalate, we give him the Hugimal to hold on his lap or do movement with. Pre-Hugimal, he was able to be in the classroom maybe 50% of the time. After we got the Hugimals, it increased to 90% 

Jen: We have an assembly every morning, and we use Hugimals there too. It can be a lot of stimulation for kids. There are kids who do fine, and others who need more support, and we’ve seen that when those kids hold a Hugimal during the assembly, they are totally fine when they wouldn’t have been before. 

Would you recommend Hugimals to other schools and to families?

Jen: Definitely, and we already have! Our students’ famlies have seen the effect the Hugimals are having in our school, and many are buying one for their homes, too. Any kid can have a rough day and need a hug. I posted about our Hugimals program on Facebook and the PTA’s website, and our local news covered the Hugimals project. 

And after seeing what we did, another elementary school in our district, Paul Norton Elementary, got Hugimals for their classrooms too. They even did an adoption ceremony where families who purchased the Hugimals delivered them to the teachers with adoption papers.

Jill: They had to one-up us — I’m kidding! We’ve seen such positive effects on the kids. I’m so pleased.