Web Site for Charlie Bear - America's Offficial Exploring Bear Home / My Story / Fun Stuff / Grrreat Adventure Club / Giving Program / Charlie's Blog / Contact Charlie "We have a choice to explore our own neighborhoods or far away shores or mountains with our hearts wide open or rush through life with our hearts shut tight." Your Friend, Charlie "I'm still always amazed when the child in us frees up others to laugh, hope and share. How does Charlie Bear do that?" Judy Deckert Bellview, Iowa Charlie Bear in the News Charlie Bear Featured in News Story in the Reston Times on September 1, 2004 Excerpt from article............. A pet project: Charlie the Bear --- Dykstra also has a pet project that reflects her love of humanity and her wish that people would sit back and smell the flowers, so to speak. She has created a fictional, life-sized, stuffed bear character that she has driven on cross-country trips. Along the way, she has posed Charlie Bear in scenic locales and ordinary places, where people were sure to strike up a conversation with Dykstra about life and the need for people to connect. "Charlie discovers that the more we reach out and discover the good in the world, and the more it is shared with others, the more it comes back to each of us, tenfold," said a brochure explaining Charlie's mission. Dykstra, with the help of a woman in Minnesota, Joan Holman, has created a Web site-www.charliebear.com---devoted to Charlie Bear and his adventures. His stories are meant to make people smile and to set an example for humans "to embrace our world with hearts wide open" and, in the process make the world a better place, the brochure said. CHARLIE BEAR'S GRRREAT ADVENTURE® Phone: 703-435-3456 / FAX: 703-435-3470 e-mail: charlie@charliebear.com / www.charliebear.com Web Design by Joan Holman Productions / www.holman.com PLEASE REMEMBER. . . I'm Charlie, a kind and gentle bear who was raised with humans. ALL BEARS ARE NOT LIKE ME. Bears who are raised in the woods look at humans a little differently than I do. If you see a real live bear who bends at the waist or can run really well - and happens to be in the same area you are; be sure to keep your distance. Many bears don't understand that humans are really okay and just want to be their friends. And, most likely, I won't be there to talk Bear language and help you out. Bears can get scared and protective of their own spaces. I've seen it happen with humans, too. Someday, they may understand you. Don't push it; just give them their space and don't get in their way. On the other hand, I am kind and gentle and I am not afraid to look for grreat things throughout my travels in the USA. I hope we'll meet some day and I can be your friend. CHARLIE BEAR'S GRRREAT ADVENTURE ® is a Registered Trademark and a creation of FOCUSED IMAGES Photography, Inc.'s founder, Lynn Bogert Dykstra. Copyright 2006 FOCUSED IMAGES Photography, Inc. All rights Reserved. No part of this web site - text or photographs - may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical for any reason, without written permission from FOCUSED IMAGES Photography, Inc. (other than printing pages, in their original form, for the sole purpose of sharing Charlie's story with your family and friends.) For permission to copy for other reasons, please contact us at charlie@charliebear.com. Charlie is a kind and gentle bear who works hard to meet your requests; but bear in mind, he has friends in high places watching out for him. Illegal reproduction of his work will result in you hearing from those friends. Thanks, in advance, for your grrreat honesty.